Mosquitoes and Climate Change

Subject – Environment

Context – In a warming world, viruses and their mosquito vectors are fast acquiring traits to gang up on humans

Concept –

Aedes mosquitoes are originally found in tropical and subtropical parts of the world. Though most serious diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and zika are transmitted by just two species — Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus — these are fast emerging throughout the world as a public health threat.
A aegypti is native to sub-Saharan Africa, and in its native environment it lives in tree holes and small pools of water and bites non-human primates.
Similarly, A albopictus is native to tropical southeast Asia, where it was originally a forest species that fed on wild animals.
While human-made conditions have made it easy for the mosquitoes to spread over larger areas, global warming has further aided in their proliferation as warm and wet environments are excellent places for mosquitoes to breed.
A aegypti is heat-tolerant and the A albopictus is heat-limited.