March 21, 2025
Bulletin interne de l'Institut Pasteur
Register for the new version of the MOOC Medical Entomology, led by Anna Bella Failloux
The digital education office is pleased to invite you to sign up for the completely rebuilt edition of the Medical Entomology MOOC.
Which mosquitoes transmit the parasites responsible for malaria? Is the Asian tiger mosquito the vector of the Zika virus? How does the transmission take place from vectors to humans and conversely?
About 25% of annual deaths worldwide are related to infectious diseases and 23% of them are directly related to vector-borne diseases. Vector-borne diseases have a zoonotic origin meaning that the pathogen is transmitted from animals to humans. Pathogens are primarily maintained within an enzootic cycle between populations of non-human primates or other mammals and zoophilic vectors. This “wild” cycle sometimes spills over with infections of humans and domestic animals. Lifestyle changes, incursions by humans into natural habitats, and changes in agropastoral practices create opportunities that make the borders between wildlife and humans more permeable.
The MOOC aims at providing a comprehensive overview of the main vectors (insects and hematophagous arthropods) and associated diseases (Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, Zika, Lyme or Chagas diseases). The design of control strategies for vector-borne diseases should be guided by research in emergence mechanisms and in control of vectors.
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
• Identify most insects and other arthropods likely to transmit viruses, parasites, or bacteria.
• Explain the transmission cycle of pathogens to humans.
• Describe environmental changes that increase the migration of vectors far from their native habitat.
• Show the role of mosquitoes and other arthropods in the transmission of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
• Consider measures to be taken to fight against vectors and/or emergence of pathogens in humans.
Additional information
• Opens on April 8, 2025
• Directed by:
• Anna Bella Failloux, head of the Arboviruses and Insect Vectors unit, at the Institut Pasteur.
• Christophe Paupy is a medical entomologist, researcher at IRD within the joint research unit "Infectious diseases and vectors: ecology, genetics, evolution and control".
• Animated by Rachel Bellone, research fellow in the Arbovirus and Insect Vectors Unit at the Institut Pasteur
As a doctoral student, you can take advantage of the free Digital Diploma in Infectious Diseases (DNM2IP). This MOOC is one of 18 MOOC’s labeled to obtain the diploma launched in 2019 and which already has more than 2500 registrants in all continents.