In December 2019

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is a highly successful invasive species that transmits a number of human viral diseases, including dengue and Chikungunya fevers. This species has a large genome with significant population-based size variation. The complete genome sequence was determined for the Foshan strain, an established laboratory colony derived from wild mosquitoes from southeastern China, a region within the historical range of the origin of the species. The genome comprises 1,967 Mb, the largest mosquito genome sequenced to date, and its size results principally from an abundance of repetitive DNA classes. In addition, expansions of the numbers of members in gene families involved in insecticide-resistance mechanisms, diapause, sex determination, immunity, and olfaction also contribute to the larger size. Portions of integrated flavivirus-like genomes support a shared evolutionary history of association of these viruses with their vector. The large genome repertory may contribute to the adaptability and success of Ae. albopictus as an invasive species.

No effective drug and definitive “gold standard” treatment for Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection has been available so far, though some medicines have been commonly used in the treatment of T. gondii infection, such as spiramycin, azithromycin, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), pyrimethamine- sulfadiazine (P-S), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX), and pyrimethamine-clindamycin (P-C). A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to compare the efficacies of these conventional medicines in the treatment. Cohort studies for the treatment of acute T. gondii infection were searched from PubMed, Google Scholar, ect. All the cases number for different group extracted from each included literature were input to meta-analysis 3.13 software to calculate the pooled negative conversion rate (NCR), cure rate (CR) or vertical transmission rate based on their sample size and weight. The pooled NCR with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was used to evaluate the overall rate of a diagnosis positive result conversion to a negative result after treatment, which of spiramycin, azithromycin and TCM were 83.4% (95%CI, 72.1%-90.8%), 82.5% (95%CI, 75.9%-87.6%), and 85.5% (95%CI, 71.3%-93.3%) respectively, with no statistical difference between them. The pooled CR with 95% CI was used to evaluate the overall rate of complete disappearance of clinical symptoms for toxoplasmic encephalitis after therapy, which of P-S, TMP-SMX, and P-C were 49.8% (95%CI, 38. 8% -60.8%), 59.9% (95%CI, 48.9%-70.0%), and 47.6% (95%CI, 24.8%-71.4%) respectively, with no statistical difference between them. Primary T. gondii infection in pregnancy was treated mainly with spiramycin alone or combined with other drugs, and the pooled rate of vertical transmission was about 9.9% (95%CI, 5.9%-16.2%) after therapy. Toxoplasmic encephalitis in AIDS patients was usually treated with sulfonamides combined with other drugs and the pooled CR was 49.4% (95%CI, 37.9%-60.9%).

As an important contributor to vector-borne diseases in China, in recent years, tick-borne diseases have attracted much attention because of their increasing incidence and consequent significant harm to livestock and human health. The most commonly observed human tick-borne diseases in China include Lyme borreliosis (known as Lyme disease in China), tick-borne encephalitis (known as Forest encephalitis in China), Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (known as Xinjiang hemorrhagic fever in China), Q-fever, tularemia and North-Asia tick-borne spotted fever. In recent years, some emerging tick-borne diseases, such as human monocytic ehrlichiosis, human granulocytic anaplasmosis, and a novel bunyavirus infection, have been reported frequently in China. Other tick-borne diseases that are not as frequently reported in China include Colorado fever, oriental spotted fever and piroplasmosis. Detailed information regarding the history, characteristics, and current epidemic status of these human tick-borne diseases in China will be reviewed in this paper. It is clear that greater efforts in government management and research are required for the prevention, control, diagnosis, and treatment of tick-borne diseases, as well as for the control of ticks, in order to decrease the tick-borne disease burden in China.

Dengue virus (DENV) has become a global health threat with about half of the world’s population at risk of infection. Although the disease caused by DENV is self-limiting in the first infection, the antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) effect increases the mortality in the second infection with a heterotypic virus. Since there is no specific efficient medicine in treatment, it is urgent to develop vaccines to prevent infection and disease progression. Currently, only a live attenuated vaccine, chimeric yellow fever 17D—tetravalent dengue vaccine (CYD-TDV), has been licensed for clinical use in some countries, and many candidate vaccines are still under research and development. This review discusses the progress, strengths, and weaknesses of the five types of vaccines including live attenuated vaccine, inactivated virus vaccine, recombinant subunit vaccine, viral vectored vaccine, and DNA vaccine.