Hiscox Alexandra, Spencer Freya, Dennehy Jessica, Dyall Will, Jenkins Akinbowale, Narendran Abhinandan, Das Avijit, Logan James G, Jones Robert T
Arctech Innovation, The Cube, Londoneast-uk Business and Technical Park, Dagenham, UK.
Reckitt Benckiser [India] Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon, India.
Med Vet Entomol. 2025 Sep;39(3):500-514. doi: 10.1111/mve.12797. Epub 2025 Mar 7.
Climate change is associated with an increase in adverse weather events such as heatwaves, drought, hurricanes and typhoons, floods and wildfires. These extreme weather events can disrupt public health infrastructure and can be detrimental to hygiene and sanitation practices, leading to knock-on effects on populations of vectors associated with disease transmission. Both the frequency and intensity of climate-related adverse weather events are predicted to increase, likely resulting in changes to vector dynamics and vector-human interactions, leading to an increased risk of disease transmission. Yet, a gap exists in our knowledge of the impact of these events on hygiene and associated pest-borne diseases. A growing body of research connects two groups of pests (domestic flies and cockroaches) that are linked with poor hygiene and sanitary conditions to mechanical disease transmission. We present a review of these specific vectors' population biology and behaviour, links with hygiene and sanitation and how pest populations and public health could be affected by adverse weather events. There is evidence that increased temperatures, extreme rainfall and flooding events are most likely to be associated with increased fly and cockroach populations and changes in the behaviour or activity of these insects, which could exacerbate the risks of disease transmission. Warmer temperatures accelerate their rates of reproduction, while heavy rainfall and flooding disrupt their habitats, driving them indoors. Other factors like habitat destruction, breakdown in healthcare system infrastructure, population displacement and altered pesticide use following an extreme weather event are predicted to influence insect populations and provide opportunities for increased human -pest contact. We highlight research gaps and provide recommendations for the improvement of current domestic and professional pest control products and strategies that might be employed to mitigate the impacts of adverse weather events on hygiene-related pests in a changing world.
气候变化与热浪、干旱、飓风、台风、洪水和野火等恶劣天气事件的增加有关。这些极端天气事件会扰乱公共卫生基础设施，并对卫生和清洁措施产生不利影响，进而对与疾病传播相关的病媒种群产生连锁反应。预计与气候相关的恶劣天气事件的频率和强度都会增加，这可能会导致病媒动态和病媒与人类互动的变化，从而增加疾病传播的风险。然而，我们对这些事件对卫生和相关虫媒疾病影响的了解还存在空白。越来越多的研究将两组与卫生条件差和卫生状况不佳相关的害虫（家蝇和蟑螂）与机械性疾病传播联系起来。我们综述了这些特定病媒的种群生物学和行为、与卫生和清洁的联系，以及恶劣天气事件如何影响害虫种群和公共卫生。有证据表明，气温升高、极端降雨和洪水事件最有可能与家蝇和蟑螂种群增加以及这些昆虫的行为或活动变化有关，这可能会加剧疾病传播的风险。温度升高会加速它们的繁殖速度，而暴雨和洪水会破坏它们的栖息地，迫使它们进入室内。预计极端天气事件后的其他因素，如栖息地破坏、医疗系统基础设施崩溃、人口流离失所和农药使用变化，会影响昆虫种群，并增加人与害虫接触的机会。我们强调了研究空白，并为改进当前的家庭和专业害虫防治产品及策略提供了建议，这些产品和策略可用于减轻不断变化的世界中恶劣天气事件对与卫生相关害虫的影响。
