Arthropods as Vectors of Emerging Diseases

Global warming and globalization are the buzzwords of our time. They have nearly reached a religious status and those who deny their existence are considered modern heretics. Nevertheless, the earth has become an overcrowded village, traversable within a single day. Thus it is hardly surprising that besides persons and goods also agents of disease are easily transported daily from one end of the world to the other, threatening the health and lives of billions of humans and their animals. Agents of diseases (prions, viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites) are not only transmitted by body contact or direct exchange of bodily fluids, but also by means of vectors which belong to the groups of licking or blood-sucking arthropods (mites, ticks, insects) that live close to humans and their houses. Without a doubt the recently accelerating globalization supports the import of agents of disease into countries where they never had been or where they had long since been eradicated, leading to a false sense of living on a “safe island.” These newly imported or reintroduced diseases – called “emerging diseases” – may lead to severe outbreaks in cases where the countries are not prepared to…

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