ForumA systematic review of the associations between mosquito- and tick-borne diseases and vector research in the United States

Tick- and mosquito-borne diseases in the United States are occurring at increasing rates and are heterogeneously distributed among the states. The allocation of public health resources and the attention of a research community on ticks and mosquitoes should be proportional to the number of reported human disease cases in each state. We conducted a systematic literature review of all publications on field-based studies of mosquitoes and ticks as a proxy for resource availability and research attention and compared these to the number of human tick- and mosquito-borne disease cases. The results showed that although some states have proportional publications and human disease, many deviate. This study highlights many states that have low numbers of publications on ticks or mosquitoes yet high incidence of human disease and other states that have high number of publications on ticks or mosquitoes yet a low disease incidence. This study may help public health agencies and the research community prioritize the need for increased research attention in states with the greatest disease burden.