Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Vector Borne Diseases

latest news & developments
Europe’s unusually warm and humid summer in 2025 contributed to 718 human cases of West Nile virus and 49 deaths in Italy alone.
BELEM

Climate change is spreading dengue, chikungunya and West Nile virus worldwide

A new COP30 report finds that rising temperatures, extreme weather, evolving pathogens and climate-driven migration are reshaping disease patterns

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
Tiny stowaways — disease-carrying ticks — can be hidden beneath the armoured scales of pangolins, the world’s most illegally trafficked mammals.
BIODIVERSITY

Hidden hitchhikers: Ticks on trafficked pangolins pose health threats

Scientists warn that ticks carried by trafficked pangolins may spread pathogens across continents, affecting people and animals

  • Sheree Bega
3 min read
Severe floods in KZN. (Photo by RAJESH JANTILAL / AFP)
CHOLERA OUTBREAK

Climate change and infectious diseases: A looming global health crisis

How extreme weather events are amplifying disease risks across the globe

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
Uwen Garae surveys his destroyed house on March 16, 2015 in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Cyclone Pam hit the South Pacific islands with hurricane-force winds, huge ocean swells and flash flooding. (Photo by Dave Hunt-Pool/Getty Images)
CARBON EMISSIONS

Commonwealth urges immediate action to support vulnerable island nations

A cyclone, or a hurricane, can knock a small or at-risk country off its growth trajectory for years, if not decades

  • Patricia Scotland
5 min read