The Alligator and the Mosquito: North American Crocodilians as Amplifiers of West Nile Virus in Changing Climates.

ABSTRACT: In an age of emerging zoonoses, it is important to understand the intricate system of vectors and reservoirs, or hosts, and their relation to humans. West Nile Virus (WNV) has been detected in a myriad of nonhuman hosts. Transmission of the virus to humans is reliant on amplified seroprevalence within the host, which occurs primarily in birds. However, recent studies have found that other animal groups, including crocodilians, can obtain seroprevalence amplification to levels that make them competent hosts able to transmit WNV to mosquitoes, which can then transmit to humans. Climate change could exacerbate this transmission risk by shifting the distributions of mosquito vectors towards novel geographic ranges. Here, we use maximum entropy models to map the current and future distributions

SUBMITTER: Andersen DK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11433929 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature