Weekly Biology Seminar - Fiona Hunter

With vector-borne diseases, we often see a gradual northward (climate-change driven?) expansion of arthropod vectors followed a few years later by the diseases they vector. In contrast, the global health emergency caused by Zika virus (ZIKV) is much more rapid, probably due to infected humans travelling to new areas and spreading the disease to local mosquitoes. Furthermore, modes of transmission (e.g., sexual transmission) set ZIKV apart. In the Americas we know far less about the mosquito species involved in ZIKV transmission than many experts, public health authorities, and politicians would have us believe.