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Emerging and Exotic Animal Disease Control

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Dominique Martinez
Montpellier, France
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Florence Vigier
Montpellier, France
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A new expertise cluster aimed at controlling infectious diseases: the Centre national d’expertise sur les vecteurs (CNEV)

10/10/2011 - Press release

Chikungunya, dengue, blue tongue, West Nile virus, malaria, Lyme disease, Chagas disease... the list goes on. All these infectious diseases are characterized by the fact that in mainland France and its overseas regions, they are transmitted by insects or ticks. They are a major threat to human and veterinary public health. Global climate, environmental and societal change is also generating new health risks. Control of and protection against these vectors are major factors in controlling the diseases they cause.

France has set up an expertise cluster devoted to the different aspects of vector control, the Centre national d’expertise sur les vecteurs (CNEV).

The CNEV has been established for an initial five-year period, under the authority of the Ministries of Health and of Agriculture, in liaison with the Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail ( ANSES). It is a multidisciplinary structure, and has been set the task, with a view to providing decision support, of rapidly and efficiently mobilizing the available French expertise and skills in terms of medical and veterinary entomology, vector control, and the human and social sciences applied to public health. The establishment of such an expertise cluster was one of the priorities set by a collegial audit of vector control in France, which published its conclusions in 2009 [1] .

The CNEV associates a large number of French research organizations and operational surveillance and control structures involved in disease vector control.

The priorities in 2011-2012

  • control of the tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus , which carries dengue and Chikungunya, and the small midges (1 to 3 mm) or Culicoides that carry blue tongue
  • management of insecticides and disease vector reference collections
  • surveillance of ticks (which carry numerous human and/or animal diseases, such as Lyme disease), sandflies (responsible for leishmaniasis) and bed bugs, which are a fast-growing problem
  • consideration of the sociological, economic and anthropological dimensions of the problems posed by vectors.

These priorities are to be discussed by all the partners at the first CNEV general assembly, in Montpellier on 20 October . Thought will also be given to how the structure will operate and the issues it will address.

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[1] Audit conducted by the IRD at the request of the Ministries of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning; of the Interior, Overseas Regions and Territorial Collectivities; of Agriculture and Fisheries; of Higher Education and Research; and of Health, Youth, Sports and Voluntary Organizations.

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The partners in the CNEV

A central coordinating laboratory , the MIVEGEC research unit (IRD, CNRS, Universities of Montpellier), geared towards vectors of human diseases.

Three associate laboratories
· The CMAEE research unit (CIRAD-INRA), more specifically concerning vectors of animal diseases.

· The Entente Interdépartementale pour la Démoustication du littoral Méditerranéen ( EID-Méditerranée), for operational aspects.

· The Ecole des hautes études en santé publique ( EHESP) for aspects relating to the human and social sciences.

35 partners with a range of complementary expertise in relation to vector control, from research laboratories or operational vector control services.

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