Desert rain now flags leishmaniasis a year out in a Barcelona study as Europe's mosquito control stays patchy
Atlantic climate patterns flag North African leishmaniasis up to 12 months ahead in Barcelona work. Europe found active mosquito control in only 20 of 29 countries as dengue and chikungunya climb. An internal antibody protected mice from Crimean Congo fever.
Science··Morning
Atlantic rainfall now flags North African leishmaniasis 12 months out
Researchers at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, working with Pasteur institutes in Tunisia, Morocco and France, found that Atlantic climate patterns govern the rainfall that reaches Tunisian and Moroccan deserts, and that this rainfall paces transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Because that desert rainfall is unusually predictable, the team reports that outbreaks can be forecast up to 12 months ahead. The peer-reviewed study appeared in Science Advances. The mechanism runs through the North Atlantic Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Variability, which shift rainfall, then vegetation, then the rodent reservoirs and sand flies that carry the parasite. Roughly one million leishmaniasis cases are estimated worldwide each year.[1]
ECDC found active mosquito control in only 20 of 29 countries
Scientists from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and three other European agencies surveyed mosquito control across 29 countries. As dengue, chikungunya and West Nile virus transmission climb, they found active measures in only 20 of those countries. The peer-reviewed article appeared in Eurosurveillance. Comparing surveys from 2020 and 2025, the authors call for integrated control that combines larval treatment, adult mosquito management, personal protection and coordination across sectors and levels of government. They list what is missing: governance is fragmented, data on the cost-effectiveness and safety of the available measures is limited, and insecticide resistance is spreading.[2]
The 9D5 antibody from Riverside protected mice from Crimean Congo fever
A team at the University of California Riverside led by Scott Pegan mapped four antibody attachment sites on the internal nucleocapsid protein of Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever virus. 9D5, one of those antibodies, is a mouse antibody, and the group notes that a humanised version would have to be found before any clinical use. The virus kills up to 40 per cent of the people it infects, and no approved treatment exists. In a peer-reviewed study in Nature Communications, 9D5 protected mice against otherwise lethal infection. 9D5 leaves the surface of the virus untouched and mobilises the immune system.[3]
