Mosquitoborne Illness and Flood Linkage

Natural disasters often carry associated disease related risks. After several floods, the New South Wales Arbovirus Surveillance and Mosquito Monitoring Program was established to take note of the association between flooding and the prevalence of mosquitoborne disease. For example, a similar task force in New Orleans post- Hurricane Katrina noted a massive increase in cases of West Nile. In Australia, the incidence of Murray Valley Encephalitis Virus increased dramatically post flooding in 1970, and there is an anticipated increase in MVEV during this flooding as well. An increase in disease presence isn't always the case, however, because flooding also kills some of the reservoirs (see previous blog post) for the disease, so it is often case dependent. With the increase in extreme weather associated with global warming this will become a much more relevant issue. 

https://theconversation.com/after-the-floods-come-the-mosquitoes-but-the-disease-risk-is-more-difficult-to-predict-111173

Anja Zehfuss