The countries of northern South America have taken effective public-health measures recently to control malaria in the region. But a changing climate combined with the continued growth of human populations will continue to provide environments conducive to Anopheles darlingi and Anopheles nuneztovari s.l., two mosquitos among the area’s most dominant disease vectors.
By modeling GBIF-mediated and other mosquito occurrence data and malaria incidence under future climate scenarios, this study unpacks how and where the disease vectors’ ranges may expand even if infections continue to decline. Both mosquitos thrive in altered environments—An. nuneztovari s.l. on the fringes of disturbed land, An. darlingi wherever human blood meals go—so ongoing monitoring of disease vectors and incidence could help those planning and managing public health initiatives quickly target potential and emerging high-risk areas.
