Mosquitoes spreading diseases to new parts of Europe

Mosquito-borne diseases are spreading across the globe, and particularly in Europe, because of climate breakdown, an expert has said.

- Helena Horton

The insects spread illnesses such as malaria and dengue fever, the prevalences of which have hugely increased over the past 80 years as global heating has given them the warmer, more humid conditions they thrive in.

Prof Rachel Lowe, who leads the global health resilience group at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center in Spain, has warned that mosquitoborne disease outbreaks will spread across currently unaffected parts of northern Europe, Asia, North America and Australia over the next few decades.

She is due to give a presentation at the global congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Barcelona to warn that the world must be prepared for a sharp rise in these diseases.