新的疟疾蚊子威胁着非洲的群众爆发

非洲只有几个月的反应malariamosquito 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.

蚊子，亚线史蒂芬西，，，，是在城市地区蓬勃发展的少数疟疾蚊子之一，因为它能够找到清洁的水来产卵。

疟疾is traditionally considered to be a rural疾病。In Africa, city centres can be completely free of malaria transmission, according to experts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

A World Health Organization map showing the spread of the invasive Anopheles stephensi in the Horn of Africa.Source:全球的疟疾Programme WHO。

But, the invading mosquito could drastically alter the location and movement of malaria in Africa, which records 94 per cent of global malaria deaths, mostly in children under five.

“I think it’s really quite scary,” says Jo Lines, professor of malaria control and vector biology at LSHTM. “It’s part of our duty as [scientists] to be saying: ‘Look here, something’s happening here.’ If we don’t shout now it will be too late.”

由牛津大学高级博士后研究员玛丽安·辛卡（Marianne Sinka）领导的新研究。一个。stephensi可能已经适应其新环境并全年积极。beplay足球体育的微博

“您看的越多，找到的就越多。我们还不了解威胁的大小，但是从最近几年起，它看起来不好。”

伦敦卫生与热带医学学院路易莎·梅瑟格（Louisa Messenger）

“If it continues its incursion into the African continent unchecked, there is a very real possibility of mass outbreaks of malaria,” Sinka’s team says. “In a continent striving to improve and strengthen its health systems, such a huge burden could be catastrophic. Targeted vector surveillance is therefore urgently needed.”

New threat

Sinka’s research is a warning bell, says Louisa Messenger, an assistant professor at LSHTM. “The key conclusions and observations are very striking. The numbers, if they turn into reality, are very dramatic,” Messenger tellsscidev.net。

2012年，在非洲之霍的吉布提市据报道，埃塞俄比亚和苏丹也报告了案件。这是第一次记录的外观一个。斯蒂芬西在非洲。

去年,世界卫生组织had issued a向量警报，，，，warning that the mosquito seemed to be spreading from Djibouti to neighbouring countries.

Messenger says the mosquito likely arrived via ships entering ports in eastern Africa. Transmission mapping shows the mosquito’s spread follows the major transportation routes used by heavy vehicles to move freight.

“入侵一个。stephensiinto Africa is particularly worrying; over 40 per cent of Sub-Saharan Africans live in urban environments,” Sinka and co-authorswrite in their paper，，，，published in PNAS (14 September).

“在城市环境中，蚊子可能难以beplay足球体育的微博控制，但人们可能会更好地获得医疗保健和治疗，因此很难估计这种入侵蚊子的后果可能是什么。”scidev.net。

研究人员正在快速努力了解传播的规模一个。stephensi。

“The more you look, the more you find,” Messenger says. “We don’t really understand the magnitude of the threat yet, but from the last few years it’s not looking good.”

Entomologist Fredros Okumu, the director of science at Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, agrees the study’s findings are significant. “For now, the best [strategy] is to assess the extent of its spread and its role in malaria transmission,” says Okumu.

呼吁采取行动

Governments must move to control一个。stephensiwithin “a few months or a year, but not longer, after that it will be too late, it will have spread too far”, says Lines.

In 1930, the world failed to react quickly to the invasion of the African mosquitoAnopheles gambiae在巴西，导致1938年的主要疟疾流行。Lines says that the Brazil crisis should act as a warning, as well as an example of success — when a comprehensive management plan was enacted,一个。Gambiae在巴西消除了。

“The quicker you make this decision, the cheaper it is,” says Lines. “This is an emerging infectious disease disaster that we can still prevent — but only if we act decisively now.”

信使说蚊帐和杀虫剂喷洒re holding measures, but they will not push back against the mosquito’s spread. “In order to push back you have to think of more source reduction,” she says.

Integrated strategies that include household behaviour modification and surveillance programmes, as well as conventional control measures, can be successful, Messenger and colleague Lines say.

Messenger说：“我们有选择，[我们需要]协调，金钱和政治意愿。”

这件作品由Scidev.net的撒哈拉以南非洲英语桌子制作。