Systematic literature review on the vector status of potential vector species of 36 vector‐borne pathogens

Vector‐borne pathogens pose risks for animal and human health, underlining the importance of surveillance activities and mapping efforts to support risk assessments. As part of a living risk assessment project, EFSA‐Animal disease profiles were developed to visualize the current knowledge on vector status of 36 selected pathogens of relevance for EFSA. To keep these profiles up‐to‐date, the current report aimed to review the vector status of species of mosquitoes, ticks, sand flies and biting midges. To this end, two systematic literature reviews were conducted, both focusing on the different criteria that determine the vector status of a species. For the first review, data were collected on the detection of the 36 selected pathogens in field collected mosquitoes, sand flies, biting midges and ticks. The second review looked for vector competence and host infection studies under laboratory conditions. Publications were collected from Web of Science using an extended search term with a temporal delineation from 2016‐2022. Publications from 1950‐2016 were extracted from an earlier review, handling a similar research question. Of the first systematic literature review, a total of 5727 records were included from 447 publications. Of the second literature review, 591 records from 122 publications were included. While combining these two data sets allowed to determine the vector status of species occurring on a global scale. In total, 187 individual species‐pathogen combinations were found and estimates of the vector status were made. In the end, this review not only discloses potential risks, but also highlights the gaps in the current knowledge regarding this topic.