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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
by ceejayoz 2mo ago
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.
- jmclnx 2mo agoSadly, maybe wait 5 to 10 decades then it could exist in many areas were it does not now.
- tomjakubowski 2mo agoThere were malaria epidemics in even quite temperate parts of Europe up to the mid 20th century, including Bavaria and even England, and it was endemic to parts of Italy and Greece. P. falciparum was found in bone samples of the Medicis. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8277918/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8277918/
- xhevahir 2mo agoYes, I remember reading in Charles C. Mann's book 1493 an interesting chapter about how malaria was pretty common in preindustrial SE England, where it was known as "marsh fever" or "ague."
- matherial 2mo agoNo. Malaria epidemics occurred in medieval Europe, both in warmer countries (Italy, Greece) and in France, Germany and England. It was also common in portions of the US until large-scale eradication efforts. It's unlikely to become a problem again because the climate is not optimal and these countries are wealthy, have advanced healthcare systems, and can spray everything with DDT again if they feel like doing it.
- toyg 2mo agoYes to everything but "the climate is not optimal". The climate was not optimal. I expect this year's weather in most of Europe must have been pretty spectacular for mosquitoes; if it becomes a regular occurrence, as scientists suggest, things might get pretty spicy. Places like Milan are already massive breeding grounds for the most aggressive types of mosquitoes.
- chmod775 2mo ago> Yes to everything but "the climate is not optimal". The climate was not optimal. I expect this year's weather in most of Europe must have been pretty spectacular for mosquitoes. You'd think that, but anecdotally there was much fewer this year in Germany than previous years. At least where I live most of the places where they'd have usually spawned (wetlands) have dried up and shrunk considerably. So really the hot weather made it a worse year for mosquitos.
- sajithdilshan 2mo agoI don’t think DDT works for the new strains of Malaria mosquitoes we have nowadays.
- nerdsniper 2mo agoUSA wiped out malaria in the 50s using DDT which also made the California condor go extinct in the wild. During the 70s-90s DDT became illegal to use in most countries around the globe. I’m not sure the USA would have been successful eradicating malaria without using DDT or something similar. DDT caused the Bald Eagle population to drop from about 400,000 birds to just 47 nesting pairs.
- the-grump 2mo agoIt's wild to watch old videos of DDT application and attitudes back then. https://youtu.be/-UiCSvQvVys https://youtu.be/-UiCSvQvVys Plenty more out there.
- redsocksfan45 2mo ago[dead]
- anttihaapala 2mo agoMalaria was endemic in Finland until the beginning of the 20th century, the people used to lived inside smoke-heated chimneyless log cabins together with animals, mosquitoes... and Plasmodium vivax...
- ceejayoz 2mo agoThat's the "treat cases" element of the story. No human cases means no reservoir for the spring's new mosquitos to draw from. It's why Florida's safe these days, despite the climate.