Florida scientists have done just that confirmed that there is a new breed of mosquitoes in the city that can carry a very dangerous set of diseases, including yellow fever. And while it’s only in two counties in the state right now, it indicates a new document that its scope could be extended by the Sunshine State.
It is known as the new mosquito Aedes scapularis, and its usual habitat is the tropics, ranging from all over Central America to parts of South America and the Caribbean. However, it is only known to arrive in Florida, when larval samples were found in the center of the Florida Keys in 1945.
But in 2019, entomologists at the University of Florida found specimens of this skeeter during a collection of samples in the Everglades. In a study last year, scientists confirmed that mosquitoes were present in a healthy number in all of Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Now, on a follow-up paper, published this month in the journal Insects, scientists use environmental modeling to project it Aedes scapularis it could spread along the Florida coast.
In its usual habitat, Aedes scapularis has been linked to several serious diseases, including yellow fever, which is almost eradicated in the US; the last outbreak occurred New Orleans in 1905. It also worries mosquitoes Aedes scapularis, which likes to bite both humans and animals, could trigger what are known as derivative events. These occur when diseases spread from one species to another, similar to how covid-19 was probably transmitted to humans through animals. (To be clear, the mosquito is not a known transmitter of covid-19, so at least Floridians don’t have to worry about that.)
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New research proves it Aedes scapularis it probably reached Florida through human travel and trade, but climate change could play an important role in its spread throughout the peninsula. Warmer temperatures will allow the error to spread north. Although no cases of yellow fever have been detected where the mosquito is found, they are known to carry the disease to their home territory, which increases the risk they could have in Florida.
It’s a well-known story, as rising temperatures allow disease-carrying mosquitoes to move into the protection zone. He Lancet recently found that warmer temperatures were responsible for the spread of dengue fever to new places; 2018 was the second worst year of the spread of dengue fever since registration began, and nine of the ten worst years have occurred since 2000. Another type of Florida mosquito tourism, Aedes aegypti, infected more than 50 people with the disease last summer. Research has been done on mosquitoes that can transmit the Zika virus similar conclusions.
Scientists have also warned that ever closer contact between humans and nature increases the risk of more extensive events in which animal-born diseases find more and more human hosts. Conclusions released last year demonstrate that spending just $ 40 billion to $ 58 billion a year could help prevent outbreaks of dangerous diseases, which is a fraction of the cost of a major disease outbreak.
Hopefully we don’t see another mosquito-driven public health crisis in the wake of this endless pandemic. But if you’re planning to go to Disney World after getting vaccinated this summer, don’t forget to pack a bug repellent just in case.