Preventing Disease Outbreaks: How the Debate Surrounding Climate Change's Influence on Mosquito-Borne Diseases Hampers Immediate Action

Abstract

A mosquito is a slender, long-legged fy; however, this insect is the most deadly animal in the world. The term "mosquito" is misleading; it is Spanish for "little fy." However, there is nothing "little" about the one million deaths worldwide that mosquitoes are responsible for annually (American Mosquito Control Association). Mosquitoes are disease vectors with the ability to carry and transmit viral diseases to other living organisms. They are responsible for the transmission of several dangerous diseases, such as malaria, West Nile virus, dengue fever, and Zika virus. Malaria is the most deadly of mosquito-borne diseases, killing one child every 40 seconds and afecting over half a billion people annually (American Mosquito Control Association). In hopes of developing preventative measures to control future mosquito-borne disease outbreaks, medical researchers have focused on identifying the primary factors that can accelerate the spread of such dangerous diseases. One possible, though controversial, factor is global climate change. Medical researchers difer in their willingness to attribute climate change to the increased distribution of mosquito-borne diseases. While vector biologists tend to feel as though climate change's drastic increase in global temperatures is insignifcant and overshadowed by a myriad of other human factors, more environmentally-minded medical researchers argue that climate change will increase the distribution of mosquitoes globally and thus increase the incidence of infectious diseases. An overwhelming majority of experts in the feld of epidemiology believe that various socio-economic, demographic, and environmental factors are just as responsible as climate change in infuencing the prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases. While each side of this debate supports their difering arguments through the use of statistics, predictive models, and past research, the purpose of the debate is obscured in the process. Climate change's infuence on mosquito-borne diseases is of much discussion; however, the relationship between climate change and disease transmission will not alter the measures taken to control disease outbreaks because climate change is caused by the same human behaviors that medical researchers agree contribute to the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. As a result, rather than conducting longterm studies to better understand climate change's direct impact on mosquito-borne diseases, medical researchers should prioritize tackling human factors, such as deforestation, urbanization, and water control projects, that lead to both climate change and the increased prevalence of infectious diseases.