Ecology, Evolution, and Epidemiology of Zoonotic and Vector-Borne Infectious Disease

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Public Health Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2025) | Viewed by 921

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. Instituto Rene Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte 30190-009, Brazil
2. Climate Amplified Diseases and Epidemics (CLIMADE), Rio de Janeiro 21341-210, Brazil
3. Sciences and Technologies for Sustainable Development and One Health, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, 00128 Rome, Italy
Interests: nasopharyngeal swabs; serologic tests; COVID-19; Zika virus; microcephaly; Flaviviridae; middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus; coronavirus infections

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The growing incidence of zoonotic and vector-borne diseases underscores the urgent need to understand how ecological, evolutionary, and epidemiological factors interact to drive pathogen emergence and spread. Rapid environmental changes—driven by climate change, deforestation, urbanization, and intensified human–animal interactions—are reshaping the distribution and dynamics of vectors and wildlife reservoirs, creating new opportunities for cross-species transmission. At the same time, advances in genomic technologies and spatial modelling are transforming our ability to track outbreaks, reconstruct transmission pathways, and anticipate future risks. This Special Issue brings together interdisciplinary research exploring how ecological landscapes, host–pathogen evolution, and socio-environmental drivers shape the emergence, persistence, and geographic expansion of infectious diseases. By integrating approaches from molecular epidemiology, eco-epidemiology, and evolutionary biology, we aim to highlight novel insights into the mechanisms underlying disease dynamics and promote more effective surveillance and control strategies in a changing world. Understanding these interconnected systems is essential for mitigating the public health impact of emerging pathogens and informing global health preparedness.

Dr. Marta Giovanetti
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • zoonotic diseases
  • vector-borne pathogens
  • eco-epidemiology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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13 pages, 749 KB  
Systematic Review
Evaluating Associations Between Drought and West Nile Virus Epidemics: A Systematic Review
by Marie C. Russell, Desiree A. Bliss, Gracie A. Fischer, Michael A. Riehle, Kristen M. Rappazzo, Kacey C. Ernst, Elizabeth D. Hilborn, Stephanie DeFlorio-Barker and Leigh Combrink
Microorganisms 2025, 13(12), 2851; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms13122851 - 15 Dec 2025
Viewed by 703
Abstract
Human West Nile virus (WNV) infections can have severe neurological health effects, especially among those over 50 years of age. As changes in weather patterns lead to more frequent and intense droughts, there is a public health need for improved understanding of drought [...] Read more.
Human West Nile virus (WNV) infections can have severe neurological health effects, especially among those over 50 years of age. As changes in weather patterns lead to more frequent and intense droughts, there is a public health need for improved understanding of drought associated WNV risks. While multiple studies have reported an association between drought conditions and human WNV cases, this information has not yet been synthesized systematically across studies. Our review aims to evaluate the existing evidence of an association between drought and human WNV cases while considering the impacts of different study regions, methodological approaches, drought metrics, and WNV case definitions. We conducted a systematic literature search of peer-reviewed epidemiological studies that examined a potential association between drought and human WNV cases. Our inclusion criteria targeted studies that employed measures of drought beyond precipitation and reported effect estimates along with measures of error. The literature search and screening process resulted in the inclusion of nine papers with study periods spanning from 1999 to 2018. The included peer-reviewed publications employed a wide variety of study designs and methods, such as linear mixed-effects models, generalized linear models using simultaneous autoregression, generalized additive models, Bayesian model averaging, and a case-crossover design using conditional logistic regression models. We summarize the key findings and provide study quality evaluations for each of the nine included studies. Studies that analyzed drought indices averaged over a seasonal period of three to four months reported positive associations between drought and WNV. However, studies that analyzed drought indicator variables averaged over weekly periods of time had less consistent results. We discuss potential mechanisms underlying the observed associations between drought and human WNV cases. Full article
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