Understanding Immunity Against Tick- and Mosquito-Borne Viruses to Develop Effective Vaccines and Therapeutics

Vector-borne diseases account for more than 700,000 human deaths annually. The etiological agents of several of these diseases are mosquito- or tick-borne viruses. These pathogens include tick-borne Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome, tick-borne encephalitis and other flaviviruses, mosquito-borne chikungunya, Rift Valley fever, dengue, yellow fever, Zika, Japanese encephalitis, and West Nile fever. Problematically, the geographical distribution of several of these diseases is widening due to changing climate conditions and increased human and livestock travel as populations and urbanization expand. Of concern are remedies that avoid environmental toxins and drug resistance through pathogenic mutation.

This Research Topic aims to explore broader protections that may lead to future, more cost-proficient solutions to the advancing pathogenic threat of these mosquito- or tick-borne viruses.

We are interested in Original Research, Review/Mini Review, Brief Research Report, Case Report, Clinical Trial, General Commentary, Hypothesis & Theory, Methods, Opinion, Perspective, Study Protocol, Systematic Review, Technology and Code articles focusing on, but not limited to, the following areas:

• New technologies, techniques, approaches, and novel data informing, diagnostics, candidate vaccines and therapeutics combating tick- and mosquito-borne viruses that cause disease in humans
• Links of immune parameters potentially correlated with protection against multiple targets
• A One Health perspective, including surveillance of susceptible human/animal hosts and viral diagnostics, biological and environmental risk factors contributing to pathogen spillover and transmission