With global warming could malaria become a problem in the UK?

Question

I understand malaria was reported on the south coast about 100 years ago.

Answer 1

Of course. Why would it not? If the mosquitoes that carry the parasite move into Britain and can breed due to the increase in temperature, then malaria will become a problem.

Answer 2

Malaria is caused by infection with a parasitic worm (genus Plasmodium) that is transmitted by the Anopheles genus of mosquito. For the disease to exist there must be a host (humans) the vector (the mosquito) and the parasite (the Plasmodium worm). There are certainly humans in UK, and world travel has meant that there are people infected with the worm in the UK. As for the mosquito, there are certainly members of the Anopheles genus in the UK, usually around costal marsh areas such as Essex and Norfolk. However, extensive land drainage schemes, fresh water systems and the remote nature of these areas means that there is limited contact between the mosquito and the human host and therefore disease outbreaks are unlikely.
The question as to whether global warming will increase the likelihood of an outbreak is more complicated however. Certainly increased temperatures would improve the breeding of the mosquito, but their range would still be restricted by the need for stagnant pools to breed. However, if predictions on sea level rises bare out then the mosquito could come into contact with people more readily, both through an increase in marsh land and reduced land area. This would increase the risk of people already infected with malaria coming into contact with native mosquitoes that in turn could spread the disease. However, there would probably be land drain schemes to reclaim lost land which would reduce the risk again.
Global warming might not have a direct effect on increasing the risk of malaria in the UK, but there may be a small risk. However there are probably more pressing things to worry about!

Answer 3

Malaria still exists in some coastal region of Tuscany Italy.

It is possible, if malaria carrying mosquito's are imported into the UK. That is why any arrivals from malaria infested areas are sprayed before entering the UK.

Global warming is insufficient to have create malaria or pass that on to the common specie of mosquito in the UK

The problem arises with our GP's will they recognise it, or will they treat as a form of flue. I contracted a very mild form of Malaria when I stayed in Tuscany, only due the fact tat I had some understanding of the symptoms did i go for tests to the London clinic for tropical deceases.

My GP would have given me antibiotics and paracetamol.

Answer 4

There are mosquitos in central and northern Europe during the summer. About a dozen people a year go down with malaria in the UK after returning from trips abroad. The odds are very, very slim of one of the few mosquitos biting one of the even fewer infected people and then going on to bite someone else......but not completely impossible either.

PS I also heard that there was an outbreak about 100 years ago but in East Anglia. Can anyone shed more light.....?

Answer 5

Increasing temperatures would mean the UK could become an area where mosquitos that carry malaria could breed, however as a developed economy it would be easier to control than in developing countries - In Florida they spend $300,000 dollars a year keeping the Anopheles mosquito (the type that carry malaria) at bay!

Answer 6

Yeh i read about that not too long ago, let remember that was then about 100 years ago. Things are change now so i know malaria will never be a problem in the UK. Unless mosquitoes can hide themselves in a travelling bag, but the possibility of them multipling is even slim

Answer 7

Malaria was once endemic in southern England, up until the late 18th C in fact. That was in the "Little Ice Age", so it doesn't necessarily have to involve warming. The extensive draining of the Fenlands probably contributed to its demise, but other wetlands remain to this day, so that can't be the whole story.

After appearing to be headed for eradication in the early 1970s, it has staged a spectacular comeback, infecting more areas now than ever before.

In short, I'd say it could well return here.

Answer 8

No, But the UK could become a big problem Malaria. Get a descendant of Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle on the case. Malaria will have no chance of evil in europe.

Answer 9

I hope it doesn't come to that.not only because I come from a country that malaria is as common as a headache,but for all the disasters that associate with the night mare of global warming...

Answer 10

I think we have to get ready for all kinds of new diseases. Malaria is a tropical disease, so as we warm up, sure, it's gonna spread. That will be the least of our problems.