Publication Date June 16, 2016 | The Conversation

Global warming to expose more people to Zika-spreading mosquito Aedes aegypti

Southern and Eastern US
A human-dependent mosquito, the range of the disease-carrying Aedes aegypti is projected to grow in the U.S. and affect more people globally. Photo: sanofi-pasteur/flickr
A human-dependent mosquito, the range of the disease-carrying Aedes aegypti is projected to grow in the U.S. and affect more people globally. Photo: sanofi-pasteur/flickr

My colleagues and I recently completed a study examining how projected changes in climate and human population may increase global exposure to the mosquito that spreads these viruses: Aedes aegypti.[1]

We found that both climate change and human population change will play a part in driving future human exposure to Aedes aegypti globally. In the United States, specifically, warming temperatures from climate change mean that this disease-spreading mosquito will be increasingly abundant in the southern and eastern US