Gore again, this time it is about mosquitoes, malaria, and elevation. Some history checking by mosquito epidemiologist Paul Reiter reveals he’s wrong about Nairobi. Turns out that some species can live as high as 10,000 feet. Even as far back as 1927 in this letter to Time Magazine, people knew of mosquitoes at the snow line. A 1960 study shows mosquitoes in the California Sierra Nevada mountains and another shows mosquitoes in the mountains of Africa. Of course those aren’t malaria carrying anopheles mosquitoes, but I’ll point out that Gore was not specific about which mosquitoes were “climbing”. And if there is indeed a mosquito borne malaria problem in Nairobi, there’s this contradictory evidence: In a presentation during the 8th International Conference on Urban Health, held in Nairobi 18–23 October 2009, it was stated that of nearly one thousand Nairobi residents tested, none were positive for malaria.
There has been a resurgence of malaria in Kenya though. It may have something to do with this: Kenyan scientists are embroiled in a deepening controversy over whether Kenya should lift a ban on the pesticide DDT in a bid to reduce deaths from malaria.
UPDATE: E.M. Smith writes in comments:
If you look at this page:
http://www.mosquitoes.org/anopheles.html
you will find a listing for the native Anopheles freeborni listed as a malaria vector and with habitat that ranges at least up to 6000 feet.
From the UK Spectator by Paul Reiter
The inconvenient truth about malaria
Al Gore has made bold claims that climate change is aiding the spread of insect-borne diseases. The science does not support him, says Paul Reiter
Al Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth, was a masterpiece. Like an elder brother to all humanity, he patiently explained the familiar litany of disasters — droughts, floods, hurricanes, sea-level rise and the rest — spiced with heartrending personal stories: his baby son’s near-fatal accident, the agony of losing a sister to lung cancer. It was a science lecture crafted by Hollywood.
In his book — the version for adults, not the one for schoolchildren — he even included a colour photograph of a corpse, a young man, floating face downward, drowned by Hurricane Katrina. I wonder whether the dead boy’s family were consulted.
I am a scientist, not a climatologist, so I don’t dabble in climatology. My speciality is the epidemiology of mosquito-borne diseases. As the film began, I knew Mr Gore would get to mosquitoes: they’re a favourite with climate-change activists. When he got to them, it was all I feared.
In his serious voice, Mr Gore presented a nifty animation, a band of little mosquitoes fluttering their way up the slopes of a snow-capped mountain, and he repeated the old line: Nairobi used to be ‘above the mosquito line, the limit at which mosquitoes can survive, but now…’ Those little mosquitoes kept climbing.
The truth? Nairobi means ‘the place of cool waters’ in the Masai language. The town grew up around a camp, set up in 1899 during the construction of a railway, the famous ‘Lunatic Express’. There certainly was water there — and mosquitoes. From the start, the place was plagued with malaria, so much so that a few years later doctors tried to have the whole town moved to a healthier place. By 1927, the disease had become such a plague in the ‘White Highlands’ that £40,000 (equivalent to about £350,000 today) was earmarked for malaria control. The authorities understood the root of the problem: forest clearance had created the perfect breeding places for mosquitoes. The disease was present as high as 2,500m above sea level; the mosquitoes were observed at 3,000m. And Nairobi? 1,680m.
Read the rest of the story at the Spectator
Mooloo (13:21:19) :
Posters making claims that Europe used to have malaria should note that there are various strains of the disease. The deadly one is mostly limited to warm places. (The others require repeated infection or other problems to be fatal.)
Biggest malarial outbreak in recent years was in Siberia in the 1920s and 1930s — 13 million infected, 600,000 deaths — 30,000 died in and around Arkhangelsk, which is smack-dab on the Arctic Circle.
The most persistently-annoying mosquito I’ve ever encountered was an aggressive little monster the Thais referred to as “tiger” — imagine a flying needle with an attitude…
Tim Wells (14:50:07) :
Yes I also saw the Plimer-Monbiot exchange on ABC tv.I must admit that Plimer was very disappointing.By ducking Monbiot’s legitimate questions he made himself look less than credible.I cant understand why he was so fumbling.I have not read his book,
I have and it was badly written and badly argued and with a lot of inconsistencies. A big disappointment!
Any AGW conference in Mexico City in July should include stock shots of the snow-capped peak and glaciers of Popocatépetl — with the reminder that it’s closer to the Equator than most of those nice, toasty islands in the Bahamas.
As far as protesters showing up, two words: Mexican jails.
🙂
thank you
Iren,
“Why would that be wrong? I understand that humans emission of CO2 account for only about 3% of total levels. One erupting volcano should easily be able to outdo that”
While it is true that 96% of CO2 is naturally emitted, mostly that comes from the biosphere. Volcanoes only emit between 130 – 230 million tonnes per year on average. This is a lot less than the 25 billion tonnes emitted by humans, so Pilmer is not even close. If he actually meant naturally emitted CO2, he should have made this clear. In my oppinion Pilmer is just too fast and loose with facts.
If you look at this page:
http://www.mosquitoes.org/anopheles.html
you will find a listing for the native Anopheles freeborni listed as a malaria vector and with habitat that ranges at least up to 6000 feet.
And that is why malaria was a major problem for gold miners in the Sierra Nevada mountains back in the ’49er era. It is not the warm, or the wet, it is abatement that matters.
California WAS a malaria ridden place, then we fixed it. Nothing to do with heat. Spraying. Fogging. Water drainage and bucket tipping. Mosquito fish stocking. Those matter. Heat? Not so much…
I recently watched a non hostile interview with Plimer and found him singularly unimpressive. I feel he needs a bit of coaching from Monckton on how to present his case,otherwise he isdoing the sceptical cause a disservice.
I remember being suprised that clouds of mosquitos followed me on to the small snow fields that remained at the higher altitudes.
Yes, Alan. I had the same reaction when I moved to the Mountains in the 70’s. In fact there are many, many more mosquitoes up at the higher, cooler levels even in snow than there are where I live 2000-4000 ft. lower.
I also wondered when I heard about the mosquito net alleged solution to Africa’s Malaria problem if these people realize that mosquitoes don’t just come out only at night.
John, do you have a link to anything on that — especially the threat from the EU? I’ve been searching for the regulation, but haven’t found it.
Thanks.
There’s a high correlation between not using DDT and local increases in malaria. The numbers of deaths involved dwarf some better known genocides.
as i believe all is one I accept all mosquito bites.Last time in the forests of Brazil I was bitten 5 times on each arm in perfect symmetry and all on acupressure points. everyone elses enemies became my friends. Take the DDT yourselves
J. Peden,
You are aware, I hope, that different species of mosquitoes live in different places. As a rule, mosquitoes in mountains are not those species that can carry malaria. Warming is changing that, and the malaria-carrying mosquitoes are climbing the slopes.
You are also aware, I hope, that while some species bite in daylight, malaria-carrying mosquitoes bite in the evening hours — they are nocturnal. Keeping people from being bitten between sundown and sunup significantly reduces malaria. In actual runs in Africa, bed nets have reduced malaria by 50% on the low end to 85% on the high end.
We US citizens defeated mosquito-borne diseases in Panama without chemicals by 1915; in the U.S., according to the CDC malaria was defeated and all but wiped out by 1939. DDT was not available to fight mosquitoes until 1946.
No nation that has vanquished malaria did it with DDT. No nation that still uses DDT has vanquished malaria. DDT probably is not a panacea against malaria, and it probably never was.