First-hand experience: vector-borne diseases

Katie Thayer

Katie Thayer, health education volunteer in Ghana

People in the European Region are at risk from diseases carried by vectors – both those carried by ticks, mosquitoes and sandflies within the Region, and when travelling to disease-endemic areas across the globe. 77,000 Europeans fall sick every year with vector-borne diseases.

Individuals whose lives have been touched by these diseases, having caught them or through working with them, tell their stories.

Researching the chikungunya and West Nile viruses

Jelke Fros is a researcher in the Netherlands, studying how the chikungunya and West Nile viruses replicate and adapt to human immune responses.
Caught malaria when working abroad

Katie Thayer and Pernille Jorgensen experienced malaria when working in Ghana.
Living where Lyme disease is common

Barbara Murphy, who lives in a rural area in Massachusetts, United States of America, and her daughter, have both had Lyme disease.
Experienced dengue fever

Wanda Welker caught dengue fever when working in Haiti as part of relief efforts following the earthquake in 2010.
World Health Day 2014 – vector-borne diseases