| Climate Change and Mosquito-Borne Disease Paul Reiter Dengue Branch, Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, San Juan, Puerto Rico Abstract
Global atmospheric temperatures are presently in a warming phase that began 250-300 years ago. Speculations on the potential impact of continued warming on human health often focus on mosquito-borne diseases. Elementary models suggest that higher global temperatures will enhance their transmission rates and extend their geographic ranges. However, the histories of three such diseases--malaria, yellow fever, and dengue--reveal that climate has rarely been the principal determinant of their prevalence or range ; human activities and their impact on local ecology have generally been much more significant. It is therefore inappropriate to use climate-based models to predict future prevalence. Key words: Aedes aegypti, anopheles, climate change, dengue, global warming, malaria, mosquito, public health, vector, yellow fever. -- Environ Health Perspect 109(suppl 1) :141-161 (2001) . http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2001/suppl-1/141-161reiter/abstract.html
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