New Delhi, Sep 10
An increasing rise in global temperatures is set to drive cases of dengue by as much as 76 per cent across a large number of countries in Asia and the Americas by 2050, according to a new study.
The research, by a team of scientists from the universities of Washington, Stanford, and the US National Bureau of Economic Research, provides the first direct evidence that a warming climate has already increased the disease's toll.
"The effects of temperature were much larger than I expected," said lead author Marissa Childs, Assistant Professor of environmental health at the University of Washington.
"Even small shifts in temperature can have a big impact on dengue transmission, and we're already seeing the fingerprint of climate warming," she added.