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Review: Synergistic effects of environmental pollutants: Multiple stressors driving the transmission of vector-borne diseases and the vicious cycle
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This review examines how multiple environmental pollutants, including microplastics, heavy metals, and pesticides, work together to increase the transmission risk of mosquito-borne diseases. Researchers found that microplastics can act as "Trojan horses" carrying other contaminants, amplifying ecological and health risks through combined exposure. The study proposes multi-level intervention strategies that integrate source control, process interruption, and ecological restoration.
This review systematically examines the mechanisms through which multiple environmental pollutants-including microplastics, heavy metals, atmospheric particulates, pesticide residues, water eutrophication, and artificial light at night-synergistically exacerbate the transmission risk of mosquito-borne diseases. A conceptual framework of the "pollution - resistance - transmission" vicious cycle is proposed, illustrating how pollutants not only directly impair mosquito physiology and drive the evolution of insecticide resistance but also systematically enhance pathogen transmission efficiency by reshaping vector-host-environment interactions, altering host behavior, compromising immune function, and extending mosquito activity periods. Interactions among pollutants, such as the role of microplastics as "Trojan horses" that carry other contaminants, further amplify ecological and health risks through combined exposure. The review also highlights species-specific and context-dependent variations in responses, identifies key research bottlenecks, and proposes multi-level intervention strategies integrating technological innovation with systematic governance-encompassing source control, process interruption, and ecological restoration-to provide a scientific basis for harmonizing public health and ecological security.
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Microplastics and environmental pollutants: Key interaction and toxicology in aquatic and soil environments
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This review tracks how microplastics move through soil, water, and air ecosystems, acting as carriers for other pollutants like pesticides and heavy metals. When microplastics absorb these toxins, the combined effect on organisms can be worse than either pollutant alone. The paper highlights the need for better understanding of how these pollutant combinations affect ecosystems and ultimately human health through contaminated food and water.
Stimulation of insect vectors of pathogens by sublethal environmental contaminants: A hidden threat to human and environmental health?
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Researchers reviewed evidence showing that sublethal doses of environmental contaminants, including microplastics and pesticides, can stimulate rather than inhibit insect disease vectors such as mosquitoes and agricultural pests. The study suggests these hormetic responses could enhance pathogen transmission and disease spread, representing an underappreciated threat to public health and food security that warrants further investigation.
A review on the combined toxicological effects of microplastics and their attached pollutants
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics act as carriers for other environmental pollutants — including heavy metals and persistent organic chemicals — and how these combinations produce toxic effects in organisms that are more severe than either contaminant alone. The findings highlight a complex, layered toxicity problem that affects microbes, invertebrates, and vertebrates across marine and terrestrial environments.
A perspective on the impacts of microplastics on mosquito biology and their vectorial capacity
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This perspective paper explored how microplastic pollution in aquatic environments could affect mosquito biology and their ability to transmit diseases. Researchers suggest that microplastics in the water where mosquito larvae develop could influence their growth, survival, and potentially their capacity to carry pathogens, representing an understudied intersection between plastic pollution and public health.
Pollution and Biological Invasions: Two Synergistic Ecological Disruptors!
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Researchers reviewed how chemical pollutants—including microplastics, heavy metals, and pesticides—synergize with biological invasions by weakening native species and altering habitats in ways that favor invasive species, while invasives in turn modify pollutant cycling, creating feedback loops that accelerate ecological degradation beyond what either stressor causes alone.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.