INTRODUCTION

Arthropod-borne diseases remain a major cause of death and morbidity throughout the world. Malaria alone kills thousands of people every year. Dengue, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, viral encephalitis, and viral hemorrhagic fevers are important public health threats. Modern technology affords us some protection from arthropod-borne disease. Window screens and an indoor life-style results in lower rates of infection in developed countries. During a recent outbreak of dengue fever along the US–Mexican border, the incidence of disease was much lower in Laredo, Texas, than in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, even though the vector, Aedes aegypti, was more abundant on the Texas side of the border. This demonstrates the magnitude of the effect of screens and indoor living, even when vector-control measures have failed.

In areas where disease activity is endemic rather than episodic, state health departments administer aggressive mosquito control programs. Considerable manpower and equipment are contributed by military reserve units, and recent conflicts have demonstrated that war disrupts vector control efforts at home as well as in the zone of conflict. Disruption of the public health infrastructure in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the failure to deliver repellent to our troops contributed to the much publicized cases of leishmaniasis among American troops in Iraq.

Mosquito-borne outbreaks of West Nile fever in the United States have also gained national attention. Rocky Mountain spotted fever and equine encephalitis remain the most lethal vector-borne disease in North America, but many other illnesses are commonly transmitted by mosquitoes, flies, ticks, and fleas. Mosquitoes transmit West Nile fever, St. Louis encephalitis, and equine encephalitis.