Olfaction in vector-host interactions

This is a multi-authored book with a focus on the role of olfaction (the sense of smell) in the multitude of interactions between arthropods and their blood hosts. Blood-feeding arthropods (mostly insects, ticks and mites) depend on a vertebrate host for survival and reproduction. Their evolutionary success depends on how efficiently they can detect the presence of a host and actively locate it to obtain a blood meal. This is the domain of olfaction, which is perhaps the most important mode of signal exchange between hosts and blood-feeding arthropods that visit them. Important human and animal diseases like malaria, dengue, West Nile virus, bluetongue and trypanosomiasis are transmitted between humans and/or animals as a direct outcome of olfactory responses mediated by host odours. Increased understanding of olfaction and how this governs interactions between arthropods and blood hosts will enable the development of novel strategies to disrupt th