Fear of increase in airport malaria in US

Warmer and wetter weather may contribute to the spread of mosquito-borne viruses from international travellers, medics fear.

Airport malaria has been coined by doctors to describe viruses that are transmitted by insects that get on board planes from infected areas, according to Medical News Today.

The West Nile virus, which can be fatal, was believed to have come to the US via an infected mosquito to a US airport in 1999.

Last year alone it killed a recorded 280 people in the USA, reported the BBC.

James Diaz of the American Society of Tropical Health and Medicine Program in the US was concerned diseases like dengue and Chikungunya fever could also spread to areas currently free of the viruses.

"As international travel increases and climate patterns change … the US becomes a more stable ecosystem for these disease carrying insects to survive and flourish for longer periods of time," he explained.

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