Invasive Alien Plants in Africa and the Potential Emergence of Mosquito-Borne Arboviral Diseases—A Review and Research Outlook
The emergence of arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) as linked to land-use changes, especially the growing agricultural intensification and expansion efforts in rural parts of Africa, is of growing health concern. This places an additional burden on health systems as drugs, vaccines, and effective...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Viruses |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/13/1/32 |
| _version_ | 1797543363010887680 |
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| author | Sheila B. Agha Miguel Alvarez Mathias Becker Eric M. Fèvre Sandra Junglen Christian Borgemeister |
| author_facet | Sheila B. Agha Miguel Alvarez Mathias Becker Eric M. Fèvre Sandra Junglen Christian Borgemeister |
| author_sort | Sheila B. Agha |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The emergence of arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) as linked to land-use changes, especially the growing agricultural intensification and expansion efforts in rural parts of Africa, is of growing health concern. This places an additional burden on health systems as drugs, vaccines, and effective vector-control measures against arboviruses and their vectors remain lacking. An integrated One Health approach holds potential in the control and prevention of arboviruses. Land-use changes favour invasion by invasive alien plants (IAPs) and investigating their impact on mosquito populations may offer a new dimension to our understanding of arbovirus emergence. Of prime importance to understand is how IAPs influence mosquito life-history traits and how this may affect transmission of arboviruses to mammalian hosts, questions that we are exploring in this review. Potential effects of IAPs may be significant, including supporting the proliferation of immature and adult stages of mosquito vectors, providing additional nutrition and suitable microhabitats, and a possible interaction between ingested secondary plant metabolites and arboviruses. We conclude that aspects of vector biology are differentially affected by individual IAPs and that while some plants may have the potential to indirectly increase the risk of transmission of certain arboviruses by their direct interaction with the vectors, the reverse holds for other IAPs. In addition, we highlight priority research areas to improve our understanding of the potential health impacts of IAPs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T13:44:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-60363011f6ed40c3abebea3a1eb759fa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4915 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T13:44:31Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Viruses |
| spelling | doaj.art-60363011f6ed40c3abebea3a1eb759fa2023-11-21T02:43:32ZengMDPI AGViruses1999-49152020-12-011313210.3390/v13010032Invasive Alien Plants in Africa and the Potential Emergence of Mosquito-Borne Arboviral Diseases—A Review and Research OutlookSheila B. Agha0Miguel Alvarez1Mathias Becker2Eric M. Fèvre3Sandra Junglen4Christian Borgemeister5Centre for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Genscheralle 3, 53113 Bonn, GermanyInstitute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), Department of Plant Nutrition, University of Bonn, Karlrobert-Kreiten-Strasse 13, 53115 Bonn, GermanyInstitute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), Department of Plant Nutrition, University of Bonn, Karlrobert-Kreiten-Strasse 13, 53115 Bonn, GermanyInternational Livestock Research Institute, Old Naivasha Road, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi 00100, KenyaInstitute of Virology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Free University Berlin, Humboldt-University Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, 10117 Berlin, GermanyCentre for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Genscheralle 3, 53113 Bonn, GermanyThe emergence of arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) as linked to land-use changes, especially the growing agricultural intensification and expansion efforts in rural parts of Africa, is of growing health concern. This places an additional burden on health systems as drugs, vaccines, and effective vector-control measures against arboviruses and their vectors remain lacking. An integrated One Health approach holds potential in the control and prevention of arboviruses. Land-use changes favour invasion by invasive alien plants (IAPs) and investigating their impact on mosquito populations may offer a new dimension to our understanding of arbovirus emergence. Of prime importance to understand is how IAPs influence mosquito life-history traits and how this may affect transmission of arboviruses to mammalian hosts, questions that we are exploring in this review. Potential effects of IAPs may be significant, including supporting the proliferation of immature and adult stages of mosquito vectors, providing additional nutrition and suitable microhabitats, and a possible interaction between ingested secondary plant metabolites and arboviruses. We conclude that aspects of vector biology are differentially affected by individual IAPs and that while some plants may have the potential to indirectly increase the risk of transmission of certain arboviruses by their direct interaction with the vectors, the reverse holds for other IAPs. In addition, we highlight priority research areas to improve our understanding of the potential health impacts of IAPs.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/13/1/32agricultural intensificationagricultural expansionarboviral disease vectorsinvasive plants<i>Lantana camara</i>land-use changes |
| spellingShingle | Sheila B. Agha Miguel Alvarez Mathias Becker Eric M. Fèvre Sandra Junglen Christian Borgemeister Invasive Alien Plants in Africa and the Potential Emergence of Mosquito-Borne Arboviral Diseases—A Review and Research Outlook Viruses agricultural intensification agricultural expansion arboviral disease vectors invasive plants <i>Lantana camara</i> land-use changes |
| title | Invasive Alien Plants in Africa and the Potential Emergence of Mosquito-Borne Arboviral Diseases—A Review and Research Outlook |
| title_full | Invasive Alien Plants in Africa and the Potential Emergence of Mosquito-Borne Arboviral Diseases—A Review and Research Outlook |
| title_fullStr | Invasive Alien Plants in Africa and the Potential Emergence of Mosquito-Borne Arboviral Diseases—A Review and Research Outlook |
| title_full_unstemmed | Invasive Alien Plants in Africa and the Potential Emergence of Mosquito-Borne Arboviral Diseases—A Review and Research Outlook |
| title_short | Invasive Alien Plants in Africa and the Potential Emergence of Mosquito-Borne Arboviral Diseases—A Review and Research Outlook |
| title_sort | invasive alien plants in africa and the potential emergence of mosquito borne arboviral diseases a review and research outlook |
| topic | agricultural intensification agricultural expansion arboviral disease vectors invasive plants <i>Lantana camara</i> land-use changes |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/13/1/32 |
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