Vector-borne diseases in China
China has a variety of vectors, widely distributed and spread. They increase risk and add to the increasingly deteriorating drug resistance. China's vast lands span tropical, subtropical and temperate zones, and feature diverse landscapes and ecological environments with a high degree of vector diversity. Globalization, climate and ecological changes and urbanization have helped vector spreading, increasing transmission risks. Vector drug resistance has become increasingly serious.
Since 2005, the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have carried out important vector monitoring covering 43 prefecture-level cities in 19 provinces and cities. Many provinces also carried out monitoring in their own area. Based on monitoring results in recent years, the density of vectors has declined steadily. But there are still some factors affecting the distribution and density of some important vectors and indirectly affect the risk of related infectious disease outbreaks. First, the globalization trend featuring various large vehicles and increasingly frequent and convenient transportation have made it easier for vectors and pathogens to spread globally. The risk of pathogen transmission is on the rise. For example, Chinese customs has intercepted more and more vectors year-on-year. Second, climate change and rising global temperature have affected the distribution and density of vectors. For example, Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti the vectors for dengue, are extending north. Third, the total population and density in cities and towns are increasing. Some areas face poor health conditions and are thus vulnerable to vector breeding and spreading, increasing the risk of infectious disease outbreak. Fourth, the use of insecticides is increasing year by year with the improved living standards of urban and rural residents, making it easy for vectors to develop drug resistance and increasing the control difficulties and costs due to a lack of scientific and systematic methods. Some previously contained vectors, for example bugs, have reappeared to pose threats to people’s health.
Vector-borne diseases in our country have shown three new trends. First, with the advancement of globalization and China's opening-up and economic development, China is having increasing exchanges with foreign countries, and the number of vector-borne infectious diseases from endemic regions and countries is increasing. There are a large number of malaria and dengue cases reaching China from Southeast Asia every year. Some imported diseases have caused endemic outbreaks in some areas, posing serious threats to people's lives and health. For example, imported malaria cases accounted for more than 90 percent of all malaria cases in China in 2013. Second, already controlled traditional vector-borne diseases still hold sway over a large area. For example, some sporadic regions have witnessed the return of epidemic encephalitis B. Third, the emerging infectious diseases continue to appear, creating a grim situation. In recent years, a number of new pathogens and emerging infectious diseases consisting of HGA, ehrlichiosis, bartonella, chikungunya and severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome have appeared in China in succession. There are still no effective prevention and treatment methods for these new vector-borne diseases, making containment very difficult.
Link: China's Central Government / World Health Organization / United Nations Population Fund / UNICEF in China
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