Preface

Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) can be vectors of human diseases such as malaria, dengue, Zika, chikungunya, yellow fever, West Nile virus, and other encephalitides, which together kill around 0.6–1.2 million people a year and put more than 80% of the population worldwide at risk of infection.

The emergence of mosquito-borne diseases (MBDs) is determined by a complex set of biological, ecological, environmental, and socio-demographic factors. The increased range and abundance of mosquito distribution and susceptibility to new pathogens are also factors resulting in increased transmission to human populations and rapid adaptation to new environmental conditions and landscapes, all of which have significant consequences in mosquito population dynamics and disease transmission.

Progress has been made in better understanding the dynamics of the interactions between mosquitoes and human-transmissible pathogens, their protective responses against invasive pathogens, the dynamics that lead to their environmental adaptation, and the potential strategies for hindering it. Despite this, there is not yet a single intervention likely to stop most MBDs. Effective vector control should be designed, structured, and delivered as Integrated Vector Management (IVM) including traditional and innovative tools and approaches with environmental management, biological control, and chemical control among other suitable cost-effective strategies that may achieve the greatest disease control benefit, minimizing the negative impact on ecosystems. However, mosquitoes continue to be the deadliest animals on Earth and public enemy number one in the fight against global infectious diseases.

This book describes recent advances in mosquito biology and ecology and their interaction with pathogens that lead to host infection. It also examines new technologies of vector control for preventing and reducing human-transmissible MBDs.

#### **Henry Puerta-Guardo**

Collaborative Unit for Entomological Bioassays, Campus for Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan,

> Virology lab, CIR-Biomedicas, Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan, Merida, Mexico

#### **Pablo Manrique-Saide**

Collaborative Unit for Entomological Bioassays, Campus for Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan, Merida, Mexico

**1**

Section 1

Mosquito Biology, Ecology

and Vector-Parasite

Interactions

Section 1
