Research approaches in the development of interventions against vector-borne infection

The conceptual basis of public health entomology developed at the turn of the twentieth century with the seminal experiments that guided the first vector-directed interventions. Within 50 years, technological advances built confidence in the power of research to resolve threats posed by vector-borne pathogens. Hope that the resulting diseases might be eliminated by time-limited interventions, however, soon became remote, thereby intensifying research efforts in vector biology. Beginning in the 1960s, US investigator-initiated grant proposals in vector biology were reviewed by a panel of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that considered all proposals relating to 'Tropical Medicine and Parasitology' (TMP). Following the recommendation of a conference held in 1978, proposals relating to insect physiology came to be reviewed by TMP. A standing 'ad hoc entomology' study section was formed in 1982 to deal with this influx of proposals. Another conference, held in 1993, encouraged consideration of proposals relating to vector transgenics by that study section. By 1994, this diversion caused the community of US public health entomologists to petition, in vain, for a return to the original concept of vector biology. By 2003, so many molecular proposals were submitted that entomological studies containing a field component were removed to an epidemiological study section distinct from TMP. In 2002, only half as many vector biology training programs could be identified in the US as in 1982, with a proportionate loss of associated faculty. A conference convened by the Institute of Medicine in 2003 concluded that the 'human resource capacity' in the US suitable for dealing with vector-related issues in health should be rebuilt. Although the development of such a discipline would depend largely on the system of investigator-initiated research proposals awarded by NIH, private donors and foundations seem likely to play an important role in this dynamic. The meld of vector biology, insect physiology and vector transgenics that will characterize the faculty that produces this new generation of public health entomologists remains to be defined.