Why Major Zika Outbreak Is Unlikely in U.S.

For instance, the A. aegypti mosquitoes are likely to breed in small swimming pools of water round residential areas, since they feed totally on people.

Homes all through Latin America with out operating water should preserve water-storage containers, which offer an ideal breeding habitat for the mosquitoes, Turell mentioned.

These properties are also much less prone to have screens to maintain mosquitoes out, or air con that enables folks to go away home windows shut, he added.

"Elevated way of life has performed a significant position in eliminating these viruses," Turell mentioned, referring to the dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika viruses.

Nonetheless, small-scale localized outbreaks stay an ongoing concern in the US, significantly within the southern states, the authors mentioned. These states characteristic an extended heat season and pockets of poverty, which make mosquito publicity extra seemingly.

There's additionally extra journey between the southern states and nations the place Zika is current, which will increase the chance "of importing the viruses from these nations into native populations of mosquitoes," Moreno-Madrinan mentioned.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior affiliate with the College of Pittsburgh's UPMC Middle for Well being Safety, mentioned that the case made by the authors is sensible, significantly when contemplating how different tropical ailments have failed to succeed in epidemic ranges in the US.

Adalja offered the instance of dengue, which has hit cities exhausting on the Mexican aspect of the border however not close by U.S. cities.

"It had been established years in the past that the disparate dengue an infection charges in Texas border cities and Mexican border cities was seemingly pushed principally by 'Texas life-style' elements, equivalent to heavy use of air con," Adalja mentioned, noting these behaviors restricted an infection charges.

"Traditionally, the charges of many infectious ailments plummet with the civilizing results of applied sciences, and mosquito-borne diseases aren't any completely different," he concluded.

The report is revealed within the Jan. three concern of the Journal of Medical Entomology.