Malaria not to be affected by Global Warming

London, May 21: The research done by the scientists of two Universities of Florida suggests that it is unlikely that Malaria will expand due to affects of global warming. They reached this conclusion on the basis of factors like malaria control, development that are at work to corral the disease.

There were concerns among the scientists and policy makers that warming temperatures would create conditions that would either push malaria into new areas or aggravate it in existing ones.

A team of six scientists, including David Smith and Andy Tatem, analyzed a historical contraction of the geographic range and general reduction in the intensity of malaria -- a contraction that occurred over a century during which the globe warmed.

On their research scientist smith said “If we continue to fund malaria control, we can certainly be prepared to counteract the risk that warming could expand the global distribution of malaria,".

The team, part of the Wellcome Trust"s multinational Malaria Atlas Project,took a note of the efforts done though malaria control over the past century that has shrunk the presence of malaria from most of the world to a region including Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and South America.

The other scientist Tatem said, “The globe warmed over the past century, but the range of malaria contracted substantially. Warming isn"t the only factor that affects malaria,". He also said we cannot say that because of a specific reason malaria contracted but it is a collection of reasons like economic development ,better health care, urbanization that has lead to the decrease of malaria all over the world.

Smith expressed that unless current control efforts were suddenly put on hold they are likely to counteract the spread of mosquitoes or other malaria-spreading effects from anticipated temperature increases.

OneIndia. News