Review article
THE IMPACT OF MIGRATION ON THE SPREAD OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Ljiljana Žmak
orcid.org/0000-0002-8354-3945
; Microbiology Division, Department for tuberculosis, Croatian Institute of Public Health, Zagreb, Croatia; School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Even in modern times, infectious diseases represent an important source of global morbidity and mortality in both developed and underdeveloped countries. Namely, of the ten leading causes of death globally in 2019, three were attributed to infectious diseases. An important mode of cross-border transmission of infectious diseases is the migration of people, animals and vectors. According to the current estimate by the United Nations, there are approximately 281 million international migrants globally, which corresponds to 3.6 % of the world’s population. Throughout history, numerous epidemics and pandemics that spread over different continents have been described. However, today, the pandemic or epidemic potential of certain pathogens is particularly emphasized due to the possibility of fast the spread of disease around the world. The SARS-CoV-2 infection itself, which started as a local epidemic in China, soon spread to the rest of the world precisely because of the increasing possibilities of human migration. In earlier times, pandemics were mostly caused by bacterial pathogens. However, with the improvement in hygiene standards and the progress in the field of medicine in the last 100 years, especially with the discovery of antibiotics, epidemics have primarily been caused by viruses. Furthermore, the risk of spreading infectious diseases is not only attributed to migrations of people, but the same is true for migrations of animals that are reservoirs of certain pathogens and vectors, carriers of diseases. The relationship between animals and humans in disease transmission is extremely important, and it is estimated that 60% of infectious diseases are of zoonotic origin. Animal migrations, especially migrations of birds and bats, have been repeatedly linked to the spread of infectious diseases, including outbreaks of the Ebola virus, West Nile virus and influenza virus. Insects, in addition to being a nuisance, can also be important vectors of infectious diseases. This group of vectors includes numerous insect species, but the most medically significant are mosquitoes and ticks. Vector-borne pathogens are limited to specific endemic areas that support the life and reproduction of individual insects. Climate change significantly affects the survival of vectors, and global warming directly affects their distribution and abundance. Due to the ever-increasing migration of people, it is necessary to closely follow the epidemiological situation in the world and monitor the cross-border spread of diseases.
Keywords
migration; biosecurity; pandemics; infectious diseases; vectors
Hrčak ID:
334098
URI
Publication date:
28.7.2025.
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