Walter Reed National Military Medical Center partners with its Department of Defense stakeholders and the National Institutes of Health to promote Bug Awareness Week, an annual public health campaign held June 10 – 17 to heighten awareness of the potential risks associated with insect-related transmissible diseases.
According to the Defense Health Agency, everyone is vulnerable to diseases spread by infected insects such as mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas, also called vectors. Vector-borne diseases are human illnesses caused by parasites, viruses, and bacteria that are transmitted by vectors. Increasing global travel and urbanization contribute to outbreaks in new regions and countries.
“We strive to educate our service members in being especially vigilant in protecting themselves from malaria, West Nile virus, Zika virus, Dengue virus and other bug-related illnesses, many of which are contracted in tropical or austere environments,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. (Dr.) Sara Robinson, the service chief of the Infectious Disease Department at WRNMMC.
Read more at the Defense Department
