The Link Between Zika and Climate Change

Miriam Araujo holds her son Lucas, who was born with microcephaly, in Sao Jose dos Cordeiros, Brazil.

Researchers are beginning to tease out the environmental factors that play a role in helping the virus to spread.

theatlantic.com - by Greg Mercer - February 24, 2016

Last year, a team of researchers made a surprising discovery: Aedis aegypti mosquitoes—the species that spreads West Nile Virus, dengue, chickungunya and, most recently, Zika—were living year-round in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. In a paper published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the researchers wrote that the mosquitoes had been living in the area since at least 2011, biting and reproducing in the summer months and likely riding out the winter underground. Previously, scientists had believed that the mosquitoes couldn’t survive year-round anyplace north of South Carolina.

While the D.C. population of A. aegypti isn’t believed to carry Zika, its presence nevertheless came as a shock. And as the Zika epidemic continues to spread through Brazil, Central America, and now the United States, scientists will continue to wrestle with how environmental factors like climate change are affecting the creatures that spread infectious diseases.

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CLICK HERE - The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene - Evidence for an Overwintering Population of Aedes aegypti in Capitol Hill Neighborhood, Washington, DC

CLICK HERE - eLife - The global distribution of the arbovirus vectors Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus

CLICK HERE - NEJM - Climate Change and Human Health

CLICK HERE - Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) - Climate and Dengue Transmission: Evidence and Implications

CLICK HERE - WHO - Climate Change And Infectious Diseases (2 page .PDF file)

ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE - Homeland Security News Wire - Mosquito species carrying Zika virus found in Washington, D.C.