Artificial Lighting as a Vector Attractant and Cause of Disease Diffusion

BACKGROUND: Traditionally, epidemiologists have considered electrification to be a positive factor. In fact, electrification and plumbing are typical initiatives that represent the integration of an isolated population into modern society, ensuring the control of pathogens and promoting public healt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental health perspectives 2010-11, Vol.118 (11), p.1503-1506
Main Authors: Barghini, Alessandro, de Medeiros, Bruno A. S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Behavior
Behavior, Animal
Chagas disease
Chagas Disease - epidemiology
Chagas Disease - transmission
Commentary
Developing countries
Disease risk
Disease transmission
Disease vectors
Electric lighting
Electrification
Environmental aspects
Epidemiology
Health aspects
Humans
Illumination
Infections
Insect Vectors
Insects
Leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis - epidemiology
Leishmaniasis - transmission
Lighting
Lighting - adverse effects
Malaria
Malaria - epidemiology
Malaria - transmission
Mathematical analysis
Night
Risk Factors
Vectors (mathematics)
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Summary:BACKGROUND: Traditionally, epidemiologists have considered electrification to be a positive factor. In fact, electrification and plumbing are typical initiatives that represent the integration of an isolated population into modern society, ensuring the control of pathogens and promoting public health. Nonetheless, electrification is always accompanied by night lighting that attracts insect vectors and changes people's behavior. Although this may lead to new modes of infection and increased transmission of insect-borne diseases, epidemiologists rarely consider the role of night lighting in their surveys. OBJECTIVE: We reviewed the epidemiological evidence concerning the role of lighting in the spread of vector-borne diseases to encourage other researchers to consider it in future studies. DISCUSSION: We present three infectious vector-borne diseases—Chagas, leishmaniasis, and malaria—and discuss evidence that suggests that the use of artificial lighting results in behavioral changes among human populations and changes in the prevalence of vector species and in the modes of transmission. CONCLUSION: Despite a surprising lack of studies, existing evidence supports our hypothesis that artificial lighting leads to a higher risk of infection from vector-borne diseases. We believe that this is related not only to the simple attraction of traditional vectors to light sources but also to changes in the behavior of both humans and insects that result in new modes of disease transmission. Considering the ongoing expansion of night lighting in developing countries, additional research on this subject is urgently needed.
ISSN:0091-6765
1552-9924
DOI:10.1289/ehp.1002115