Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store

Vector Borne Diseases: Types, Examples, and Prevention

share icon
share icon
banner

What Are Vector Borne Diseases? Definition, Causes & Major List

Vector-Borne Diseases are the illness brought about by the Vectors. A Vector is a carrier of the causative microbe for different Diseases, for example, mosquitoes, ticks and fleas. The proliferation of Vectors is impacted by climate and weather. Such Diseases are across the board and found all through the world. In excess of 700,000 patients bite the dust of Vector-Borne Diseases. The significant Vector-Borne Diseases establish about 17% of the infectious Diseases on the planet. The most unfortunate populaces of the tropical and the sub-tropical districts are profoundly influenced by such Diseases. Malaria is maybe the most popular Vector-Borne Disease on the planet. Let us take a look at a Vector-Borne Disease and the types of Vectors responsible for the Vector-Borne Diseases.


What are Vectors?

Vectors are life forms that can taint people with irresistible specialists, either between people or from creatures. A considerable lot of these Vectors are parasitic creepy crawlies that ingest sickness causing microorganisms from a tainted host (human or creature) during blood dinner and move them to another host later the microbe recreates. When the Vector becomes irresistible, it regularly contaminates the microbe with each resulting chomp/blood supper for the remainder of its life.


Significant Realities

Vector-Borne illnesses represent over 17% of every irresistible infection, killing in excess of 700,000 individuals yearly. They can be brought about by either parasites, microorganisms, or infections. Jungle fever is a parasitic Disease communicated by anoferin mosquitoes. It causes an expected 219 million cases worldwide and prompts in excess of 400,000 passings every year. Most passings happen in kids younger than five. Dengue fever is the most well-known viral Disease sent by Aedes aegypti. More than 3.9 billion individuals are in danger of creating dengue in excess of 129 nations, with an expected 96 million suggestive medicines and an expected 40,000 passings every year. Other Vector-Borne viral illnesses are chikungunya fever, decavirus fever, yellow fever, West Nile fever, Japanese encephalitis (all sent by mosquitoes), and tick encephalitis (communicated by ticks). Numerous Vector-Borne illnesses can be forestalled by protections and local area preparation.


Vector-Interceded Infection

Vector-Borne illnesses are human infections brought about by parasites, infections, and microscopic organisms that are sent through the Vector. In excess of 700,000 individuals pass on every year from illnesses like intestinal sickness, dengue fever, cystosomiasis, human African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas infection, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, and onchocerciasis.


The weight of these infections is most elevated in the jungles and subtropics, influencing excessively to the least fortunate populaces. Starting around 2014, flare-ups of dengue, intestinal sickness, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika have tormented individuals in numerous nations, asserting lives and overpowering medical care frameworks. Different sicknesses, for example, chikungunya fever, leishmaniasis, and lymphatic filariasis cause constant Diseases, long lasting bleakness, handicap, and periodic disgrace.

 

The pestilence of Vector-interceded infection is dictated by a mind boggling set of segment, natural and social elements. Worldwide travel and business, impromptu urbanization


Sickness Vector

Sickness Vectors are living beings that contaminate people (or creatures and plants in horticulture). The Vector gets the sickness from the contaminated host or climate and communicates the Disease to the new host while ingesting food or through mechanical transmission like skin defecation and extracorporeal particles.


The main Vector-Borne infections and their go betweens on a worldwide scale are recorded beneath.


Intestinal sickness (protozoa): Anopheles species. Lymphatic filariasis (nematodes): Culex pipiens, Anopheles mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Dengue fever (infection): Aedes aegypti. Leishmaniasis (protozoa): Mainly Phlebotomus class. Schistosomiasis (accident): Tropical and subtropical freshwater snails. Chagas illness (protozoan trypanosoma species): Reduviidae, Triatoma rubrofatus. Trachoma (microorganisms): flies (different sorts). Onchocerciasis (nematode): Simulium types of gnats. Japanese encephalitis (infection): Culex quinquefaque species (some animals, waders). Other arboviruses: different Vectors. Gastrointestinal infections (different microorganisms): various Vectors. Human African trypanosomasis (protozoan trypanosoma species): Tsetse fly, Glossina species (likewise creatures). The table beneath shows the quantity of nations with dynamic transmission of Vector-Borne illnesses. This shows that for all intents and purposes everybody is in danger of fostering a Vector-Borne infection.


Types of Disease - Vectors

  1. Mosquitoes

  2. Flies such as sand flies and dark flies 

  3. Bugs 

  4. Ticks 

  5. Snails conveying parasites


Potential Places Where Disease Vectors Exist

  1. Utensils and ridges containing stale water, and swimming pools.

  2. Places where rainwater pontoons, (for example, toys at gardens).

  3. Relinquished places and apparatuses.

  4. Revealed water tanks at the kitchen and restroom.

  5. Ridges containing stale water.

  6. Rat tunnels and dull places.

  7. Stale water depleted by the forced air system and helpless ventilation.

  8. Stale water at rooftops.

  9. Swimming pools, ponds and marshes, particularly in agrarian places.

  10. Animal pens.

  11. Unclean beds and swimming places may be a decent situation for bugs.


List of Vector - Borne Diseases and Their Vectors

Vectors 

Diseases 

Disease - Causing Organisms

Mosquitoes

Chikungunya

Dengue

Zika fever

Yellow fever

Filariasis

Rift Valley fever

Malaria

West Nile fever

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV)

Dengue virus (DENV)

Zika virus

Yellow fever virus

Filarioidea

Rift Valley Fever virus (RVFV)

Plasmodium

West Nile Virus

Tsetse Flies

African trypanosomiasis

Trypanosoma brucei

Lice

Typhus

Louse-Borne relapsing fever

Rickettsia prowazekii

Borrelia recurrentis

Sandflies

Leishmaniasis

Phlebotomus fever

Leishmania

Phlebovirus

Ticks

Lyme Disease

Tick-Borne encephalitis

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever

Relapsing fever

Rickettsial Disease

Tularaemia

Borrelia burgdorferi

Flavivirus Tick-Borne encephalitis virus Ortho Nairovirus

Borrelia

Rickettsia

Francisella tularensis


Safety Measures for Protection Against Disease-Vectors

  1. Battling the insects that transmit such Diseases, just as the places where their larvae exist, by utilizing appropriate insecticides.

  2. Filling ponds and marshes, and taking out wastes, and making a point not to let them heap up.

  3. Putting on long-sleeved wears, and covering legs at places where insects exist, and utilizing insect repellants.

  4. Utilizing nets at entryways and windows to forestall the passageway of insects.

  5. Utilizing mosquito nets when resting outside.

  6. Covering water tanks well.

  7. Evacuating things that could presumably give a place to water boating, for example, old tires, ridges and unused apparatuses by huge.

  8. While remaining for long outside, make a point to cover the latrine lid, siphon lid, water seepage openings and gutters.

  9. Changing water at ridges like clockwork, and cleaning them from inside.

  10. Disposing of water at water seepage channels at rooftops and nurseries.

  11. Changing water at animals' drinking utensils like clockwork.

  12. Abstaining from venturing out to the nations/places stricken by Vector-Borne Diseases, and making a point to ingest the essential preventive medications and immunizations when voyaging. Such medications and immunizations are, for instance, for yellow fever and malaria.

  13. Focusing on the cleanliness of animals and animal pens.

  14. Making a point to wipe water well in the wake of being in contact with water at places stricken by Diseases.

  15. Abstaining from swimming at ponds or stale water, and maintaining a strategic distance from discharge in it.

  16. Battling the snails transmitting the infectious type of Bilharzia.

  17. Keeping up close to home hygiene continually and utilizing clean water for drinking or washing.

  18. Disposing of human waste away from water resources.

Want to read offline? download full PDF here
Download full PDF
Is this page helpful?
like-imagedislike-image

FAQs on Vector Borne Diseases: Types, Examples, and Prevention

1. What exactly is a vector-borne disease?

A vector-borne disease is an illness caused by a pathogen (like a virus, bacterium, or parasite) that is transmitted to humans by another living organism, known as a vector. This vector, typically an insect like a mosquito or tick, carries the disease-causing agent from an infected person or animal to a healthy one.

2. What are some common examples of vector-borne diseases?

Some of the most well-known vector-borne diseases include:

  • Malaria, spread by Anopheles mosquitoes.
  • Dengue fever, spread by Aedes mosquitoes.
  • Chikungunya, also spread by Aedes mosquitoes.
  • Lymphatic Filariasis (Elephantiasis), spread by Culex mosquitoes.
  • Kala-azar, spread by sandflies.

3. What is the difference between a pathogen and a vector?

A pathogen is the actual microscopic organism that causes the illness, such as a virus or a parasite. A vector is the organism that carries and transmits this pathogen to a host. For example, in the case of malaria, the pathogen is the protozoan Plasmodium, while the vector that carries it is the female Anopheles mosquito.

4. How are vector-borne diseases different from contagious diseases like the common cold?

The main difference is the mode of transmission. Vector-borne diseases require a biological intermediary (the vector) to spread from one host to another. You cannot catch a disease like malaria directly from an infected person. In contrast, contagious diseases like the common cold spread directly from person to person, usually through airborne droplets from a cough or sneeze.

5. Why are vector-borne diseases often so difficult to control?

Controlling these diseases is challenging because it involves managing the vector population, which is often widespread and resilient. Factors like climate change can expand the habitats of vectors like mosquitoes. Eradicating them completely is nearly impossible, so control measures must be continuous, targeting their breeding sites and protecting humans from bites.

6. What are the most effective ways to prevent vector-borne diseases?

Prevention focuses on avoiding contact with vectors and controlling their population. Key methods include:

  • Using mosquito nets and insect repellents.
  • Wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants.
  • Eliminating stagnant water sources where mosquitoes breed (in coolers, pots, and puddles).
  • Supporting community-level fogging and spraying activities.

7. Which vector-borne diseases are a major health concern in India?

In India, several vector-borne diseases are major public health issues. The most common ones monitored by the government include Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, Japanese Encephalitis, Kala-azar, and Lymphatic Filariasis. These diseases are particularly prevalent during and after the monsoon season.

8. Does the vector itself get sick from the pathogen it carries?

Generally, no. For a vector to be successful in spreading a disease, it must remain healthy enough to live and feed on multiple hosts. The pathogen and its vector often share a co-evolved relationship where the pathogen completes part of its life cycle inside the vector without causing it significant harm. This ensures the pathogen's survival and continued transmission.


Competitive Exams after 12th Science
tp-imag
bottom-arrow
tp-imag
bottom-arrow
tp-imag
bottom-arrow
tp-imag
bottom-arrow
tp-imag
bottom-arrow
tp-imag
bottom-arrow