Approximately 270 million people suffer from malaria and 1 to 2 million people die from it yearly, while over 2 billion people are considered at risk of contracting the disease. Small outbreaks now occurring north and south of tropical regions are consistent with model projections of potential shifts of conditions conducive to transmission.
Dengue fever is a prolonged, severe flu-like illness, which in certain forms can be fatal.
Frost kills adult mosquitoes and larvae and is therefore an important limiting factor for spread. Consistent with predictions associated with warming in mountain regions, dengue fever is now being reported at higher elevations at 1240 meters in Central America and 1700 meters in Mexico. The mosquito vector has been reported at 2200 meters in the Colombian Andes. Dengue fever may also be moving south, as its presence in northern Argentina and Australia suggest. DF and DHF are among the more alarming of the resurging diseases, according to public health organizations, because of their epidemic nature and the lack of a vaccine.