-Caveat Lector-
Global Warming Encourages
Mosquitoes - Man's Dealiest Enemy
By Environmental News Network
7-12-1
Asian tiger mosquito Asian tiger mosquitoes that carry tropical
diseases are
likely to spread far and wide as global warming creates hotter
temperatures
outside their historic habitat, according to new research from the
University
of
Florida.
"Our research shows that, like many mosquitoes, this species breeds
faster
as
the temperature gets higher," said Barry Alto, a University of
Florida
entomology doctoral student and co-author of the study which
appeared in
the
July 2 issue of the "Journal of Medical Entomology."
"If global warming trends continue, the Asian tiger mosquito may
become
common in places it's not found today," Alto warned.
Though small, Asian tiger mosquitoes bite aggressively, attacking
humans,
livestock, and wildlife, mainly during daylight hours. This species
can spread
over 100 diseases, says Florida's Sarasota County Mosquito Management
Division.
The Asian tiger mosquito may be just the beginning of a northern
invasion of
other species of mosquitoes. "Some research indicates that global
climate
change may alter the current distributions of other mosquito
species," Alto
said.
Native to East Asia, the Asian tiger mosquito has spread widely in
the last two
decades, transported into the United States in shipments of used
automobile
tires containing its eggs from Japan or Taiwan. In 1986, the Asian
tiger
mosquito was initially discovered in Florida at a tire dump site in
Jacksonville.
Over the next eight years, it spread to all of Florida's 67 counties.
Warmer regions of North and South America, Europe and Africa now
harbor
the species, known scientifically as Aedes albopictus. In the
tropics, it carries
dengue fever, which infects tens of millions but is usually not
fatal. A severe,
hemorrhagic form of the disease infects hundreds of thousands each
year and
kills about five percent of those infected.
It was first reported in the United States in 1985 and has reached
at least 25
states, mainly in the East and South. "This mosquito spread quickly
in the
South," Alto said, "whereas in the Midwest, it's less common
although it arrived
in the mid-80s."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency acknowledges that, "Global
warming may increase the risk of some infectious diseases,
particularly those
diseases that only appear in warm areas. Diseases that are spread by
mosquitoes and other insects could become more prevalent if warmer
temperatures enabled those insects to become established farther
north." The
EPA says these diseases include malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever,
and
encephalitis.
Alto's study compares reproduction of Asian tiger mosquitoes housed
at 79, 75
or 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Mosquitoes kept at 79 degrees reproduced
fastest,
while those at 72 degrees reproduced slowest.
"The difference between the low and high temperatures, seven degrees,
matches some estimates of how much global temperatures will increase
in the
next 100 years," he said.
The study shows that higher temperatures, when considered alone,
would
probably allow the mosquito to spread farther north and possibly
survive
year-round in areas where winter freezes now kill it off, Alto
explained.
Steven Juliano, an Illinois State University biological sciences
professor and
co-author of the study, said global warming is also predicted to
affect rainfall
and humidity, so the study does not make definite predictions about
the
mosquito's possible spread. Still, he said, it provides some
valuable insight.
"Insect population dynamics are affected by many variables," Juliano
said. "But
this study helps us highlight what we need to know to plan for the
future."
The EPA says that in spite of these risks, increased mortality is
not an
inevitable consequence of global warming. "Malaria, for example, is
rare in the
United States even in warmer regions where the mosquito that
transmits the
disease is found, because this nation has the ability to rapidly
identify and
contain outbreaks when they appear," the agency says.
Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, director-general of World Health
Organization
recognized in 1999 that global warming is facilitating the spread of
malaria
carrying mosquitoes. "In several locations around the world," she
told an
audience on World Meteorological Day, "malaria is now reported at
higher
altitudes than in preceding decades, such as on the mountain
plateaus in
Kenya."
"One possibility that we have to take seriously, if the trends
continue, is that
climate change is contributing to the spread of this major disease,"
she said.
"Health scientists, including some at the Copenhagen and Rome
offices of
WHO, are beginning to address this as a serious research issue,"
said Dr.
Brundtland, a former Norwegian prime minister who led the United
Nations
commission that coined the phrase "sustainable development."
Juliano and Alto are conducting follow-up research on the invasion
biology of
the Asian tiger mosquito at the Florida Medical Entomology
Laboratory in Vero
Beach.
The project is funded by the National Institutes of Health and
involves
researchers from UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences,
Illinois State
University, Yale University and Brazil's ministry of health.
http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/07/07102001/mosquito_44225.asp
Copyright 2001, Environmental News Network All Rights Reserved
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