As temperatures rise with climate change, mosquito season extends past the summer months in many parts of the world. The question has been how this lengthened season influences the risk of being infected with mosquito-born diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika.
Now, in a paper published on April 27 in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Stanford researchers modeled how rising temperatures might influence mosquito behavior and disease risk around the world. The researchers also calibrated their model with field data on human infections of mosquito-borne diseases.
As temperatures rise with climate change, mosquito season extends past the summer months in many parts of the world. The question has been how this lengthened season influences the risk of being infected with mosquito-born diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika.
Now, in a paper published on April 27 in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Stanford researchers modeled how rising temperatures might influence mosquito behavior and disease risk around the world. The researchers also calibrated their model with field data on human infections of mosquito-borne diseases.
“Dengue epidemics have been on the rise in the past couple decades so there’s been a growing effort trying to understand why we’re seeing more dengue, and what the relationship is between dengue transmission and climate,” said study lead author Erin Mordecai, an assistant professor of biology.
The ideal temperature
Temperature controls several factors that underlie the time it takes for a virus to be transmittable to humans. These include how long it takes for a mosquito to ingest a virus during one feeding and then be ready to inject it in a later feeding; the length of the mosquito’s life cycle; and how often mosquitoes bite.
Read more at: Stanford University
Image: Workers in Ecuador spray insecticide to kill Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spread dengue, chikungunya and Zika diseases. Stanford scientists are researching the temperatures that promote mosquito activity. (Image credit: Dany Krom)
