Editorial: Emerging arboviruses

Authors: Wilson, William - Bill; Mitzel, Dana; SAVINI, GIOVANNI - The Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale Delle Venezie (IZSVE); ZIENTARA, STEPHAN - French Agency Of Food Security And Sanitation; RICHT, JUERGEN - Kansas State University

Submitted to: Frontiers in Veterinary Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/23/2020
Publication Date: 11/6/2020
Citation: Wilson, W.C., Mitzel, D.N., Savini, G., Zientara, S., Richt, J.A. 2020. Editorial: Emerging arboviruses. Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 7:593872. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.593872.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.593872

Interpretive Summary: COVID-19 pandemic is a current example of an emerging infectious disease highlighting that debilitating infectious diseases can emerge naturally from an animal source. The estimates range from 60-75% of emerging infectious diseases in humans are of animal origin. More recent estimates are that 30% of emerging diseases are transmitted by insects. This manuscript is an editorial summarized a special edition in Frontiers of Veterinary Sciences on Emerging Arboviruses (emerging viruses transmitted by arthropods).

Technical Abstract: The current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the well-known fact that debilitating infectious diseases can emerge naturally from an animal source. The estimates range from 60-75% of emerging infectious diseases in humans are of zoonotic origin. Up to one third of these emerging infectious diseases are caused by vector-borne pathogens, which cause more than 700,000 deaths annually (WHO, 2017). In the last two decades, there are multiple examples of the emergence of vector-borne pathogens affecting both animal and public health. This includes animal pathogens such as the introduction and re-emergence of Bluetongue virus serotype 8 into ruminant livestock in Europe (Sailleau et al., 2017) and the introduction of African Swine fever virus to Europe and Asia (Gaudreault et al., 2020). On the zoonotic side, there is West Nile virus that was introduced into the United States in 1999 (Kramer et al., 2008), Rift Valley fever which emerged in the Arabian Peninsula outside of its endemic area in Sub-Saharan Africa (Miller et al., 2002), and the displacement of one genotype of Japanese encephalitis virus by another in Asia (Karna and Bowen, 2019) as well as its potential emergence in Australia (van den Hurk et al., 2008); these are all examples of the recent emergence of arboviruses into animal and human populations. Emerging or re-emerging vector-borne diseases are an important Global One Health concern. A detailed understanding of the virus-vector-host interactions in its natural environment is critical to develop effective diagnostic, vaccine and other control strategies. The present collection of manuscripts was developed to provide an unique compilation of recent advances in research and mitigation strategies for emerging and re-emerging arboviruses of veterinary/agricultural and public health concern such as viruses from the families Asfarviriadae, Flaviviridae, Phenuiviridae, Reoviridae and Togaviridae. This manuscript collection will provide scientists up-to-date information on these diverse pathogens and their respective insect vectors. It is organized with an initial series of articles reviewing risk assessments, which is followed by articles reviewing the state-of-the-art in epidemiology, diagnostic, vaccine and other control methods.