Vector-borne diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, Zika and West Nile fever account for more than 17% of all infectious diseases worldwide [1]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 5.6 billion people live in areas at risk of arboviral infections – that’s more than half of the global population [2]. With over 35 years […]

Anyone who has got a pet rat at home knows how intelligent and adaptable these animals are. And they are becoming increasingly popular as pets. However, as with all animals in human care, there is a risk of them transmitting pathogens, such as hantaviruses, to humans. Hantaviruses, which occur worldwide, belong to the group of

Experts worldwide have identified climate change as the greatest health challenge of the 21st century. There is growing evidence that climatic changes also favour the emergence, recurrence and spread of infectious diseases. However, the full extent of this worrying development is still insufficiently investigated. In a study from 2022, researchers analysed the literature and found

Emerging infectious diseases is a term for new infectious diseases in humans that have either newly appeared in a population or have already existed but are rapidly increasing in incidence or geographic range. The term also covers diseases that are caused by novel pathogens. These have developed from bacteria or viruses that were previously harmless