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The impact of human activities on the principles and processes governing the arrival, establishment and spread of exotic pathogens is illustrated by vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya, West Nile, bluetongue and Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fevers. Competent vectors, which are commonly already present in the areas, provide opportunities for infection by exotic pathogens that are introduced by travel and trade. At the same time, the correct combination of environmental conditions (both abiotic and biotic) makes many far-flung parts of the world latently and predictably, but differentially, permissive to persistent transmission cycles. Socioeconomic factors and nutritional status determine human exposure to disease and resistance to infection, respectively, so that disease incidence can vary independently of biological cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates whether climatic factors direct the evolution of the vectorborne flaviviruses by testing whether the eco-climatic spaces occupied by closely related viruses are more or less similar than those occupied by more distantly related ones. Prediction that climate has been a significant factor in the evolution of these pathogens and, by implication, will be important in future events on both evolutionary and ecological time-scales; Scarcity of explanations for the driving force and constraints that have shaped the evolutionary origin of new pathogen strains; Use of data from molecular biology which can be linked with data from satellites that allow us to characterize environmental conditions on a global scale; Use of satellite imagery; which show broad-scale patterns that are consistent with the pattern of new tick-borne flaviviruses having evolved sequentially in a cline across the world; Results, including that distribution of three tick-borne flaviviruses from western Europe have been captured simultaneously by the same 10 satellite-derived seasonal climatic variables; Test for significant matches between their phylogenetic tree and an independent tree derived from quantitative descriptions of the viruses? `eco-space?, which will indicate the extent of key ecological drivers for specific evolutionary events, whose biological basis can then be explored in detail.

Investigates the interrelation of climatic change with the resurgence of malaria in the East African highlands. Factors contributing to the Plasmodium falciparum transmission; Trend of monthly and annual meteorological variables in the highlands; Use of augmented Dickey-Fuller test in analyzing the meteorological variables.

Explores the use of satellite imagery to determine the factors that drive the dynamics of vector populations and malaria parasite transmission. Variation of mosquito population processes and malaria incubation periods in vectors with temperature and moisture conditions on the ground; Models of extrinsic and intrinsic drives of malaria; Prospects for malaria early warning systems.

In our study we did not address the impact of predicted climate change on malaria incidence because a complete global assessment is reported elsewhere. Regarding the climate surfaces we used, the data set has superior spatial resolution compared with other data sets of similar temporal extent, and has been used to quantify climate change across Africa at 0.5 × 0.5° spatial resolution (although the resulting maps are smoothed to emphasize regional changes). It is inconsistent to assert that these same data are insufficient to demonstrate a lack of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]