Parasites and wildlife in a changing world: The vector-host- pathogen interaction as a learning case

Rizzoli, Annapaola; Tagliapietra, Valentina; Cagnacci, Francesca; Marini, Giovanni; Arnoldi, Daniele; Rosso, Fausta; Rosà, Roberto

Flaviviruses are among the best examples of the consequences of the anthropogenic impacts on host-parasite interaction and on how their modifications affect infection hazard. Amongst the more than 70 described Flaviviruses, at least 40 are pathogenic for humans. They include, other than tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) and WNV, also other emerging viruses such as Powassan virus (POWV) Usutu virus (USUV), and Zika virus (ZIKV). Furthermore, well-known flaviviruses of remote regions appear to have increased their distribution (e.g. TBEV, Zika virus, Kyasanur Forest disease virus). In other cases, they increased their human pathogenicity so that they might have been overlooked and/or misdiagnosed and thus only now apparently emerging (e.g. USUV) (Cadar et al., 2017; Grottola et al., 2017) .