Disease Vectors: How Insects, Animals, and Humans Spread Illness

A disease vector is a living organism that transmits infectious pathogens between hosts. Vectors can be biological (pathogen replicates/develops within) or mechanical (passive transport).

Major Arthropod Vectors

Vertebrate Reservoirs & Mechanical Vectors

• Rodents: Hantavirus, leptospirosis, Lassa fever, plague (reservoir), arenaviruses.
• Bats: Rabies, Nipah, Hendra, Ebola/Marburg (suspected), coronaviruses (SARS, MERS, SARS-CoV-2).
• Birds: Avian influenza, West Nile (amplifying hosts), psittacosis.
• Domestic animals: Dogs/cats (rabies, toxoplasmosis, toxocariasis); livestock (brucellosis, Q fever, anthrax).
• Flies (house flies, blow flies): Mechanical vectors for diarrheal pathogens (Shigella, Salmonella, E. coli, cholera, helminth eggs).
• Cockroaches: Mechanical transport of bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites.

Humans as Vectors

Humans transmit pathogens directly (respiratory droplets, sexual contact, blood, fecal-oral) and can act as mechanical vectors (contaminated hands, fomites). Asymptomatic carriers (e.g., Typhoid Mary, COVID-19) play major roles in spread.

Control Strategies

• Vector control: insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), indoor residual spraying (IRS), larviciding, environmental management.
• Personal protection: repellents (DEET, picaridin), permethrin-treated clothing, bed nets.
• Vaccination (where available): yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, tick-borne encephalitis, rabies (pre/post-exposure).
• Surveillance & rapid response.

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Vector	Key Diseases Transmitted	Type
Mosquitoes (Anopheles, Aedes, Culex)	Malaria, dengue, Zika, chikungunya, yellow fever, West Nile, Japanese encephalitis, lymphatic filariasis	Biological
Ticks (Ixodes, Dermacentor, Amblyomma)	Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, tularemia, tick-borne encephalitis, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever	Biological
Fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis)	Plague (Yersinia pestis), murine typhus, flea-borne spotted fever; intermediate host for tapeworms (Dipylidium)	Biological
Lice (Pediculus humanus humanus - body louse)	Epidemic typhus (Rickettsia prowazekii), trench fever (Bartonella quintana), relapsing fever (Borrelia recurrentis)	Biological
Sand flies (Phlebotomus, Lutzomyia)	Leishmaniasis, sand fly fever, bartonellosis	Biological
Triatomine bugs (Kissing bugs)	Chagas disease (Trypanosoma cruzi)	Biological
Tsetse flies (Glossina)	African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)	Biological
Black flies (Simulium)	Onchocerciasis (river blindness)	Biological