"The warmer it is, the more mosquitoes there will be, and these can transmit up to 20 different types of viruses to us.", warns Anna-Bella Failloux, head of the arbovirus and insect vector unit at the Pasteur Institute during a presentation to the press on January 21, 2025 of the strategic plan " Pastor 2030". Thus, global warming will increase the risk of contracting a vector-borne disease (read the box below, editor's note). "These insects are unable to regulate their body temperature, so when you increase the outside temperature, you shorten the development time from egg to adult.", adds the scientist. With the logical consequence of an increase in the number of generations of mosquitoes.
What are vector-borne diseases?
THE vector-borne diseases (or arboviruses) are diseases or viruses transmitted via vectors, mostly insects such as mosquitoes or ticks. Malaria, yellow fever and dengue fever are vector-borne diseases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), they cause more than 700,000 deaths each year worldwide.
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New mosquito study center to open by 2028
Urbanization is particularly responsible for the proliferation of mosquitoes. "Diseases (vectorial, editor's note) are circulating more and more, partly because of poorly managed urbanization where a large number of stagnant puddles of water sometimes accumulate, but also because of transport, particularly that of used tires from one country to another.", conducive to the development of mosquito nests, explains Anna-Bella Failloux. The entomologist specifies that this is also how the tiger mosquito in Europe: in 1990, used tires from the United States arrived in Italy where the eggs were able to develop.
This is why the Institute announces that it is focusing its “Pasteur 2030” plan "on human health, particularly via insects", to try to better understand these vector-borne diseases, their mode of contamination and transmissibility, with the ultimate objective of "control and treat them"To do this, the Institute is building a new Research Center on Climate and Environmental Infections, which should be completed by 2028 in Paris. The goal of this center is to provide a structure adapted to the study of insects and the diseases they transmit, such as viral fever. Chikungunya, Zika virus, or even theJapanese encephalitis.
Other research institutes are studying how to reduce the number of people affected by vector-borne diseases and arboviruses. This is notably the case of the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), which has experimented with releasing sterile male mosquitoes (notably on the island of La Réunion in 2021) with the aim of having them mate with fertile females so that their eggs are not viable. However, "They are not very competitive with fertile male mosquitoes.", tempers Anna-Bella Failloux, which complicates their task. Thus, according to this specialist, new research and other tests remain to be done before this technique is sufficiently developed to significantly reduce mosquito populations.
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"3500 species of mosquitoes but only 15% bite humans"
To study mosquitoes, special conditions are necessary. Of course, it must be warm enough, but the species studied must also not be mixed together because not all of them are at risk. "There are more than 3,500 species of mosquitoes today, yet only 15% of them bite humans.", specifies the head of the arbovirus and insect vectors unit at the Pasteur Institute.
This is why the Institute announces that it is focusing on populations of mosquitoes living in cities, since they are the most likely to bite humans. With the idea of fully understand how certain mosquitoes can carry and transmit certain diseases, in order to isolate them, but also to control them and create a treatment adapted to each vector-borne disease. An emergency with global warming.
Other announcements of the “Pasteur 2030” strategic plan:
The Pasteur Institute has established several research and study priorities for the 2030 horizon. Thus, various programs and research centers should see the light of day soon.
– For the study of mosquitoes, the Research Center on Infections linked to Climate and the Environment should see the light of day by 2028 in Paris.
– For infectious threats and resistance to antimicrobial agents, the Center for Research in Vaccinology and Immunotherapies should be created.
– The Center for Drug Discovery and Development should support researchers at every stage of the development of a new drug. The program “Amplifying Funds in Infection Biology” aimed at fostering research and collaboration across Europe, was recently joined by the Institute.
– In addition, research programs "mother-child", aimed at studying the role of the microbiome in child development, and "TOTEM", a partnership between the Pasteur Institute, Curie and Imagine, brings them to share their expertise, resources and infrastructures.
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