Medical community addresses new malaria danger in Africa

Each year, about 250 million people in Africa are afflicted with malaria, a deadly mosquito-borne disease that comes with fatigue, fever and chills. Of those people, about 600,000 each year die. As if those numbers aren’t scary enough, another 126 million people could be at risk with the emergence of an invasive breed of mosquito expanding through Africa. Anopheles stephensi can thrive in both urban and rural areas. It is also resistant to most insecticides commonly used in malaria control.  “Anopheles stephensi may have been expanding its geographic distribution for 25-30 years,” said Robert McCann, an assistant professor at the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health at The University of Maryland School of Medicine. The breed is native to parts of South Asia and the Arabian Peninsula, he told Black News & Views. “It started expanding into the western parts of the Arabian Peninsula as early as 2000, and was first detected in Africa in Djibouti in 2012,” McCann said. “We’re not sure how or why it has been expanding. It might be because movement of people between these regions has recently increased, or because the conditions in the expanded range have become more suitable for this species.” Funmilayo...