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garbawarbtoday at 5:47 PM3 repliesview on HN

Could these mosquitoes lead to malaria becoming endemic in Germany?


Replies

ceejayoztoday at 5:53 PM

No. They only survive in tropical/subtropical regions.

A concerted effort to treat cases and reduce habitat can prevent it, too. The US wiped it out in the 50s; new cases largely come from travel.

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Tangurena2today at 6:48 PM

Only a few species of mosquitos can carry the parasite. None of them live in that part of Europe. The swamps around the city of Rome were historically infested with those skeeters which is why we use the Italian word for the disease (which means "bad air").

xattttoday at 6:02 PM

Malaria was endemic to the Deep South in the States up until the 1950s, at which point it was declared eradicated thanks to a miracle chemical called DDT. They should put that on everything (/s).

It is unlikely that malaria will establish itself, given that it gets cold and inhospitable to malaria-carrying mosquitos in Northern Europe. However, it is one of many things that could potentially be frog-boiled into existence in northern latitudes as a result of climate change.

I live in an area where mosquitos were unbearable this year. You couldn’t do outdoor activities without a mosquito net. It’s bad enough but I don’t want to imagine what it would be like if the threat of mosquito-borne illness was layered on.