Warming World Spreads a Wider Welcome Mat for Zika-Carrying Mosquitoes

The Aedes aegypti mosquito thrives in warm, wet conditions, which are spreading northward, even into central California, because of climate change.

As world health officials scramble to combat the spreading virus, which could infect as many as 4 million people this year, scientists and public health officials see the outbreak as an omen in a world steadily warming under the effects of climate change.

"[Zika] is the virus of the moment but can be taken as an indicator of a future where changes in temperature provide a more hospitable environment for viruses to replicate and be transmitted," said Colin Parrish, a professor of virology at Cornell University.

The World Health Organization has designated the Zika virus a global public health emergency, assigning it the highest level of urgency.

The most alarming outbreak of the Zika virus erupted in Brazil in May, and has since spread to 25 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In the United States, at least 48 cases of Zika have been reported in nearly a dozen states, including Florida, where a health emergency has been declared in four counties.  The infections in the U.S. have been reported in people sickened while traveling outside of the country.  (The CDC has confirmed one case of the virus being transmitted sexually in Texas.)

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