Abstract del documento publicado por la Organización Mundial de la Salud:
The second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century have witnessed important changes in ecology, climate and human behaviour that favour the development of urban pests. Most alarmingly, urban planners are faced now with the dramatic expansion of urban sprawl, where the suburbs of our cities are growing into the natural habitats of ticks, rodents and other pests. Also, many city managers now erroneously assume that pest-borne diseases are relics that belong to the past.
All these changes make timely a new analysis of the direct and indirect impacts of present-day urban pests on health. Such an analysis should lead to the development of strategies to manage them and reduce the risk of exposure. To this end, WHO has invited international experts in various fields – pests, pest-related diseases and pest management – to provide evidence on which to base policies. These experts contributed to the present report by identifying the public health risk posed by various pests and appropriate measures to prevent and control them. This book presents their conclusions and formulates policy options for all levels of decision-making to manage pests and pest-related diseases in the future.