From the EUROPEAN COMMISSION JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE and the “you should see mosquitoes in Alaska at 40 degrees F” department.
Spurred on by climate change, international travel and international trade, disease-bearing insects are spreading to ever-wider parts of the world.
This means that more humans are exposed to viral infections such as Dengue fever, Chikungunya, Zika, West Nile fever, Yellow fever and Tick-borne encephalitis.
For many of these diseases, there are as yet no specific antiviral agents or vaccines.
Global warming has allowed mosquitoes, ticks and other disease-bearing insects to proliferate, adapt to different seasons, migrate and spread to new niche areas that have become warmer.
These are the findings of a JRC report that aims to raise awareness about the threat posed by the spread of arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses).
The growing spread of arboviruses
Aedes mosquitoes spread several arboviruses, including Dengue, Chikungunya, Zika, West Nile and Yellow fever viruses.
These mosquitoes thrive in urban settings due to the lack of natural predators and the ready availability of food and habitats in which to procreate.
They have existed in Africa and Asia for many years and are now becoming more and more widespread.
They have recently become established in some European countries and the Americas, largely as a result of international travel and trade.
Their alarming spread poses a problem for public health. They are difficult to eradicate – their larvae can survive for months, even in suboptimal humidity and temperature conditions.
The tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) has been found in several European countries, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and, more recently, the Netherlands.
One of the more recently reported vectors for the virus, the Dermacentor reticulatus tick species, is rapidly spreading through Europe. It has a high reproduction rate, is cold resistant and can live underwater for months.
Humans can be infected by a tick bite or through consuming unpasteurised dairy products that do not meet EU safety standards and have come from infected animals. Luckily, TBEV can be vaccinated against.
Zika virus – a serious concern for Europe
Zika virus has received a lot of media attention due to its association with neurological disorders such as Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) and the development of microcephaly (abnormally small head) in foetuses.
It is difficult to diagnose and there is no cure or vaccine. First identified in 1947 in the Zika forest of Uganda, its spread is a serious concern given the growing presence of its main vector, the mosquito Aedes albopictus, in temperate zones including Europe and America.
The first documented outbreak of ZIKV infection was reported in 2007 in Micronesia. Since then it spread to French Polynesia and Brazil, where it infected up to 1.3 million people in 2015.
More than 70 territories worldwide have confirmed autochthonous (indigenous) cases of ZIKV. By March 2017, 2 130 Europeans were reported to have travel-associated ZIKV infections.
Mosquito control strategies
The report describes and discusses several methods that have been used to control the spread of mosquitoes, including insecticides, mosquito traps, genetic modification, land reclamation and habitat surveillance.
Currently, the safest and most readily available and effective methods of controlling mosquitoes are mosquito traps (for relatively small areas) and nets, and the reduction of potential breeding sites (standing water).
While the research team behind the study advocate better control of mosquito populations, they also warn that it would be unwise to remove mosquitoes completely from the ecosystem.
They are part of the food web for some species, and pollinate many plants. Wiping them out completely could have negative effects on nature, and consequently on humans.
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Full Bibliographic information: CONDUTO ANTÓNIO Diana Sofia, SANSEVERINO Isabella, POZZOLI Luca, LETTIERI Teresa, 2017. Toward Climate Change Impact: Vectors carrying viral infection. Publication Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. ISBN:978-92-79-80856-2, https://doi.org/10.2760/067022
Only one problem, there’s no real link to climate:
Oops! Hopes for climate linkage to mosquito population increases dashed by new study
Remember those claims of ‘global warming will increase dengue fever risks’? Never mind…
New study shows Malaria has little to do with temperature or climate, but more with household size
Study: Zika virus transmission isn’t as dependent on warmer temperatures as previously thought
All this latest PR pitch is about is “send more money”, IMHO.
Take Away:
Mosquitoes = bad
Humans = good
Climate Change = Humans being bad
End Result: Feel guilty because we say you should although we don’t exactly know why cuz mosquitoes might be good, but we are bad….or are we good…but if mosquitoes are good that means we are bad, but we can’t be bad because mosquitoes are bad so that means we are good, but we aren’t good because we attack the planet thus creating conditions for the bad mosquitoes which makes us bad, but we can’t be bad because mosquitoes are bad……………ACK! *head explodes*
Summary = another climate alarmist gets trapped in their own twisted philosophy and thus removes themselves from the gene pool (and subsequent food source for the dreaded mosquito). Another reporter is completely confused and turned around and reports their confusion thus selling more subscriptions.
Alarmism destroyed with one graph –
http://www.who.int/gho/malaria/epidemic/malaria_007.jpg
Wiping them out completely
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what about smallpox or polio? we are trying to wipe these out completely. why give mosquitoes a pass simply because they might also do some good?
do we give mass murderers a pass because they also contribute to worthwhile charities? how is this any different?
Smallpox and polio are diseases Fred. Mosquitoes are animals not a disease and they are a HUGE source of food for other animals especially fresh water fish. See malaria chart above – we are winning against it. Probably the single most effective means to fight malaria is to isolate infected humans from infecting mosquitoes local to populated areas. Netting and window screening go a long way to do that as well as to protect healthy humans from being bitten and it’s clearly working.
Prior to netting and education, bedridden infected persons were cared for by other family members in open huts. The infected person would get bitten hundreds of times per day producing swarms of infected mosquitoes thus wildly increasing the risk to the family and the entire village.
Original Mike M – I’m not aware of any studies showing that mosquito larvae are an especially important food source for any other animals. What you read about bats eating humongous numbers of mozzies is hogwash (swallows probably eat far more and any bat eco-locating only on something as small as a mozzie will starve) and although we can use some small fish as efficient mosquito-control agents in ponds and the like, there are lots of other food sources and no data to support any contention that they require mosquito wrigglers. Maybe some do need mozzies, but many of our serious vector mosquitoes either breed in containers/treeholes or temporary stands of water (after floods or snow melt) where there are no fish. Some insects, including some ‘good’ mosquitoes (Toxorhynchites spp. for example), would be stressed if bad mozzies disappeared, but it is quite likely that much of the rest of nature would be relieved. It isn’t just people who suffer from exsanguination and disease transmission by mosquitoes.
There is not much in this essay that is correct other than some mosquitos transmit disease. Not all Aedes species transmit the diseases repeatedly listed in the article. Aedes is a large genus. Aedes aegypti is the primary vector of yellow fever, dengue, Zika, Chik, etc. Aedes albopictus is a potential vector but not as efficient as aegypti. Both are domestic mosquitoes, meaning the evolved to live with humans. Aegypti came out of Africa with the slave trade. Albopictus came out of Asia with used tires. Seriously during the Carter days the USA was going to chip tires and use them as a power plant fuel. Somebody didn’t mention steel belted tires. So throughout the SE USA tires were imported from Asia to solve this “energy crisis.” We had large “tire farms” some of which caught fire. Albopictus was here. Anopheles species carry malaria. We had yellow fever epidemics in Philadelphia and Boston in the 18th Century, during the Little Ice Age. Malaria was well known in Italy and southern Europe during the Roman Era. Dengue, yellow fever, malaria were common in the SE USA until WWII. Most epidemics were stopped by screening and draining. DDT was at first considered a miracle like penicillin. By the late 1950s most mosquitoes were resistant to DDT due to overuse by mosquito control, agriculture and home pest control. The spread of “emerging” mosquito vectored diseases has very little to do with climate change and a whole lot to do with rapid travel and the partly because of the naiveté of the environmental movement and their political friends. Zika came out of Africa to Brazil during the Soccer World Cup. A large percentage of people with Zika are asymptomatic even when viremic. So they get on a plane and within hours are any where in the world. If Aedes aegypti happens to be around well—–. Zika is scary to heath official just for those reasons. The real threat however is yellow fever. Yellow fever was epidemic in western Brazilian towns last year and was moving east. Biggest problem is the severe shortage of yellow fever vaccines. Vaccines for Zika, Chik, and dengue are more difficult to develop. Dengue for example comes in about four strains. Get one you are sick, get the second and you are sicker, get the third or fourth and it can become hemorrhagic.
Excellent summary.
So much hatred for the mosquito! They need protection from bats. Green energy to the rescue!
http://joannenova.com.au/2018/03/19-out-of-20-bats-hates-wind-turbines/
If the viruses are spreading, it has more to do with the increased ease of travel than it has to do with any changes in the weather.
And perhaps banning pesticides.