First report of imported case of dengue fever in Republic of Serbia

Assessment of climate change impact on the malaria vector Anopheles hyrcanus, West Nile disease, and incidence of melanoma in the Vojvodina Province (Serbia) using data from a regional climate model

Motivated by the One Health paradigm, we found the expected changes in temperature and UV radiation (UVR) to be a common trigger for enhancing the risk that viruses, vectors, and diseases pose to human and animal health. We compared data from the mosquito field collections and medical studies with regional climate model projections to examine the impact of climate change on the spreading of one malaria vector, the circulation of West Nile virus (WNV), and the incidence of melanoma. We analysed data obtained from ten selected years of standardised mosquito vector sampling with 219 unique location-year combinations, and 10 years of melanoma incidence. Trends in the observed data were compared to the climatic variables obtained by the coupled regional Eta Belgrade University and Princeton Ocean Model for the period 1961-2015 using the A1B scenario, and the expected changes up to 2030 were presented. Spreading and relative abundance of Anopheles hyrcanus was positively correlated with the trend of the mean annual temperature. We anticipated a nearly twofold increase in the number of invaded sites up to 2030. The frequency of WNV detections in Culex pipiens was significantly correlated to overwintering temperature averages and seasonal relative humidity at the sampling sites. Regression model projects a twofold increase in the incidence of WNV positive Cx. pipiens for a rise of 0.5°C in overwintering TOctober-April temperatures. The projected increase of 56% in the number of days with Tmax ≥ 30°C (Hot Days-HD) and UVR doses (up to 1.2%) corresponds to an increasing trend in melanoma incidence. Simulations of the Pannonian countries climate anticipate warmer and drier conditions with possible dominance of temperature and number of HD over other ecological factors. These signal the importance of monitoring the changes to the preparedness of mitigating the risk of vector-borne diseases and melanoma.

The First Molecular and Phenotypic Characterization of the Invasive Population of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) from the Central Balkans

Aedes (Stegomya) albopictus (Skuse 1984), the Asian tiger mosquito, represents the most invasive and one of the medically most important mosquito vectors. Although native to South East Asia, the species has recently spread globally, and was registered in the city of Novi Sad (Serbia, Central Balkans) in August 2018. We characterized the invasive population using phenotypic (wing size and shape) and molecular (nuclear, internal transcribed spacer 2- ITS2, and mitochondrial, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I- COI) markers. The results of phenotypic analyses indicated that the Serbian population could be differentiated from the native (Thailand) and invasive (Hawaii and Florida) populations due to restricted gene flow, founder effect, and supposed different strain origin. The Serbian population showed genetic homogeneity, indicative of a small founder number (bottleneck invasion model). Despite the incorporation of ITS2 GenBank sequences into the data set, neither spatial (Geneland) nor nonspatial (BAPS) genetic structuring analyses helped infer the Serbian population origin. However, the comparison of the retrieved COI haplotype with previously characterized mitogenomes indicated a temperate strain origin, capable of overwintering. Such findings suggest that the newly registered Ae. albopictus population could be able to establish itself since previous studies outlined Novi Sad as a suitable area.