One Health Approach as an Integrated Strategy for the Control of Vector-Borne Diseases

Abstract

Metaxenic diseases are those transmitted by vectors, such as insects or arthropods, which act as intermediaries between a host and a pathogen (1). Their transmission chain involves three essential elements: a host (generally an infected person), a vector that transmits the disease, and a biological agent, which can be a virus, bacteria, or parasite (2). Among the metaxenic diseases, malaria (transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles) and dengue fever, considered the most prevalent viral infection transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes, stand out. Other viral diseases included are chikungunya, Zika, yellow fever, West Nile fever, Japanese encephalitis, tick-borne encephalitis, and Oropouche fever, the latter transmitted by Culicoides paraensis (3).