Impact of land use change on vector-borne disease transmission and its underlying mechanisms: a review

doi:10.12140/j.issn.1000-7423.2025.06.015

Abstract

Abstract:

Land use change is fundamentally transforming earth’s ecosystems, resulting in biodiversity decline and ecosystem degradation, and becomes a critical driver of infectious diseases outbreaks. This article systematically reviews the advances in the impact of land use changes on vector-borne diseases transmission and its mechanisms, with an emphasis on the potential impacts of land use changes on vector redistribution and global disease transmission. Current evidence indicates that land use changes, such as deforestation, agricultural expansion, urbanization, and infrastructure development, remarkably reshape vector habitats and population dynamics, thereby increasing the risk of mosquito-borne, sandfly-borne, and snail-transmitted diseases outbreaks and expansion, and land use changes mainly affect disease transmission via habitat fragmentation, microclimate modification, host community reorganization, and human disturbances. To respond to these health challenges caused by land use changes, strategic priorities should focus on enhancing scientific researches, optimizing land use policies, improving surveillance and forecast systems, promoting ecological rehabilitations, and increasing public awareness.

Key words: Vector-borne disease, Land use change, Research progress

CLC Number:

XIANG Jiangling, LI Qin, GUO Suying, XU Jing. Impact of land use change on vector-borne disease transmission and its underlying mechanisms: a review[J]. CHINESE JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY AND PARASITIC DISEASES, 2025, 43(6): 849-854.

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