Rift Valley Fever and West Nile virus vectors in Morocco: Current situation and future anticipated scenarios

Abstract

Rift Valley Fever (RVF) and West Nile virus (WNV) are two important emerging Arboviruses transmitted by Aedes and Culex mosquitoes, typically Ae. caspius, Ae. detritus and Cx. pipiens in temperate regions. In Morocco, several outbreaks of WNV (1996, 2003 and 2010), affecting horses mostly, have been reported in north‐western regions resulting in the death of 55 horses and one person cumulatively. Serological evidence of WNV local circulation, performed one year after the latest outbreak, revealed WNV neutralizing bodies in 59 out of 499 tested participants (El Rhaffouli et al., 2012). The country also shares common borders with northern Mauritania, where RVF is often documented. Human movement, livestock trade, climate changes and the availability of susceptible mosquito vectors are expected to increase the spread of these diseases in the country. Thus, in this study, we gathered a data set summarizing occurrences of Ae. caspius, Ae. detritus and Cx. pipiens in the country, and generated model prediction for their potential distribution under both current and future (2050) climate conditions, as a proxy to identify regions at‐risk of RVF and WNV probable expansion. We found that the north‐western regions (where the population is most concentrated), specifically along the Atlantic coastline, are highly suitable for Ae. caspius, Ae. detritus and Cx. pipiens, under present‐day conditions. Future model scenarios anticipated possible range changes for the three mosquitoes under all climatic assumptions. All of the studied species are prospected to gain new areas that are currently not suitable, even under the most optimist scenario, thus placing additional human populations at risk. Our maps and predictions offer an opportunity to strategically target surveillance and control programmes. Public health officials, entomological surveillance and control delegation must augment efforts and continuously monitor these areas to reduce and minimize human infection risk.

Global potential distribution of three underappreciated arboviruses vectors ( Aedes japonicus , Aedes vexans and Aedes vittatus ) under current and future climate conditions

“…To avoid overfitting and to reduce dimensionality and multicollinearity between variables, we performed a principal component analysis (PCA) with the remaining 15 environmental variables. The component loadings in the present‐day data were used to transform future‐climate data using NicheA version 3.0 (Kamal et al., 2018; Osorio‐Olvera et al., 2020; Outammassine et al., 2022; Qiao et al., 2016; Samy et al., 2016).…”

Synthesis, SAR studies, and insecticidal activities of certain N-heterocycles derived from 3-((2-chloroquinolin-3-yl)methylene)-5-phenylfuran-2(3H)-one against Culex pipiens L. larvae

“…31 It is the vector of the West Nile virus, Ri Valley fever virus, and lariasis. 32,33 Synthetic chemicals are a major, rapid, and effective control measure for mosquitoes, especially at the outbreak of diseases. 34 However, the injudicious and intensive use of chemical insecticides for vector control is common malpractice, especially in developing countries.…”

West Nile virus in Spain: Forecasting the geographical distribution of risky areas with an ecological niche modelling approach

“…pipiens (Gangoso et al., 2020) (see Sánchez‐Gómez et al., 2017 for another approach). Furthermore, in most cases the occurrence data was restricted to the records occurring in the area of interest (Adham et al., 2019; Baak‐Baak et al., 2017; Ben Hassine et al., 2019; Conley et al., 2014; Cunze et al., 2016; Gangoso et al., 2020; García‐Bocanegra et al., 2018; Hesami et al., 2019; Kalan et al., 2017; Koch et al., 2016; Larson et al., 2010; Liu et al., 2020; Medley, 2010; Melaun et al., 2015; Moua et al., 2021; Mughini‐Gras et al., 2014; Outammassine et al., 2021; Peach et al., 2019; Peterson et al., 2008; Sallam et al., 2016, 2017; Wiese et al., 2019), thus not considering the entire niche occupied by the species to be model as recommended (Cunze et al., 2020), and probably underestimating the resulting distribution.…”