SciDev.Net: New malaria mosquito threatens mass outbreaks in Africa
“Africa has just months to react to an invasive malaria mosquito that thrives in cities, before the situation escalates beyond control, experts warn. Scientists predict that more than 125 million city dwellers across Africa will face a higher malaria risk from a type of Asian mosquito that is quickly moving across the continent. The mosquito, Anopheles stephensi, is one of the few malaria mosquitoes that thrives in urban areas because of its ability to find clean water to lay its eggs. Malaria is traditionally considered to be a rural disease. In Africa, city centers can be completely free of malaria transmission, according to experts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). But, the invading mosquito could drastically alter the location and movement of malaria in Africa, which records 94 percent of global malaria deaths, mostly in children under five…” (Buguzi/Broom, 9/28).