West Nile virus eco-epidemiology and climate change

Abstract

West Nile virus (WNV) is an arbovirus with a wide geographical distribution. It is maintained in an enzootic bird-mosquito cycle and exhibits regular zoonotic transmission to humans, to whom it can cause West Nile fever and neuroinvasive disease. Over the last decades, WNV has emerged as a serious health threat with profound impacts on animal and human health. It is broadly accepted that climate change impacts the transmission of WNV through multiple pathways via its impacts on vectors, the pathogen, hosts, and the environment. Although some clarity has been established, the outcomes of these climate-driven processes are yet to be better understood before they can fully benefit tailored prevention and control measures. This review focuses on the eco-epidemiology of WNV and how it is impacted by climate change through an integrative lens. We discuss the role of eco-epidemiological modeling in knowledge generation and highlight the importance of adopting an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary One Health approach for improved surveillance, data collection, modeling, and translation of outcomes into actionable policy and control.