-Caveat Lector- Global Warming Encourages Mosquitoes - Man's Dealiest Enemy By Environmental News Network 7-12-1 Asian tiger mosquito Asian tiger mosquitoes that carry tropical diseases are likely to spread far and wide as global warming creates hotter temperatures outside their historic habitat, according to new research from the University of Florida. "Our research shows that, like many mosquitoes, this species breeds faster as the temperature gets higher," said Barry Alto, a University of Florida entomology doctoral student and co-author of the study which appeared in the July 2 issue of the "Journal of Medical Entomology." "If global warming trends continue, the Asian tiger mosquito may become common in places it's not found today," Alto warned. Though small, Asian tiger mosquitoes bite aggressively, attacking humans, livestock, and wildlife, mainly during daylight hours. This species can spread over 100 diseases, says Florida's Sarasota County Mosquito Management Division. The Asian tiger mosquito may be just the beginning of a northern invasion of other species of mosquitoes. "Some research indicates that global climate change may alter the current distributions of other mosquito species," Alto said. Native to East Asia, the Asian tiger mosquito has spread widely in the last two decades, transported into the United States in shipments of used automobile tires containing its eggs from Japan or Taiwan. In 1986, the Asian tiger mosquito was initially discovered in Florida at a tire dump site in Jacksonville. Over the next eight years, it spread to all of Florida's 67 counties. Warmer regions of North and South America, Europe and Africa now harbor the species, known scientifically as Aedes albopictus. In the tropics, it carries dengue fever, which infects tens of millions but is usually not fatal. A severe, hemorrhagic form of the disease infects hundreds of thousands each year and kills about five percent of those infected. It was first reported in the United States in 1985 and has reached at least 25 states, mainly in the East and South. "This mosquito spread quickly in the South," Alto said, "whereas in the Midwest, it's less common although it arrived in the mid-80s." The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency acknowledges that, "Global warming may increase the risk of some infectious diseases, particularly those diseases that only appear in warm areas. Diseases that are spread by mosquitoes and other insects could become more prevalent if warmer temperatures enabled those insects to become established farther north." The EPA says these diseases include malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, and encephalitis. Alto's study compares reproduction of Asian tiger mosquitoes housed at 79, 75 or 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Mosquitoes kept at 79 degrees reproduced fastest, while those at 72 degrees reproduced slowest. "The difference between the low and high temperatures, seven degrees, matches some estimates of how much global temperatures will increase in the next 100 years," he said. The study shows that higher temperatures, when considered alone, would probably allow the mosquito to spread farther north and possibly survive year-round in areas where winter freezes now kill it off, Alto explained. Steven Juliano, an Illinois State University biological sciences professor and co-author of the study, said global warming is also predicted to affect rainfall and humidity, so the study does not make definite predictions about the mosquito's possible spread. Still, he said, it provides some valuable insight. "Insect population dynamics are affected by many variables," Juliano said. "But this study helps us highlight what we need to know to plan for the future." The EPA says that in spite of these risks, increased mortality is not an inevitable consequence of global warming. "Malaria, for example, is rare in the United States even in warmer regions where the mosquito that transmits the disease is found, because this nation has the ability to rapidly identify and contain outbreaks when they appear," the agency says. Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, director-general of World Health Organization recognized in 1999 that global warming is facilitating the spread of malaria carrying mosquitoes. "In several locations around the world," she told an audience on World Meteorological Day, "malaria is now reported at higher altitudes than in preceding decades, such as on the mountain plateaus in Kenya." "One possibility that we have to take seriously, if the trends continue, is that climate change is contributing to the spread of this major disease," she said. "Health scientists, including some at the Copenhagen and Rome offices of WHO, are beginning to address this as a serious research issue," said Dr. Brundtland, a former Norwegian prime minister who led the United Nations commission that coined the phrase "sustainable development." Juliano and Alto are conducting follow-up research on the invasion biology of the Asian tiger mosquito at the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach. The project is funded by the National Institutes of Health and involves researchers from UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Illinois State University, Yale University and Brazil's ministry of health. http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/07/07102001/mosquito_44225.asp Copyright 2001, Environmental News Network All Rights Reserved MainPage http://www.rense.com ANOMALOUS IMAGES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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