Global warming raises disease threat

More countries will be at risk from mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and dengue due to global warming, according to a new report.

Rising temperatures could affect countries like mainland Australia, which last reported an outbreak of malaria in 1962.

It could also affect two million more people in Papua New Guinea as temperatures rise and rainfall heightens in other areas.

Pacific island governments were called on to act now by spending more money on quarantining by author Dr Sarah Potter.

Her report, conducted on behalf of independent policy think-tank the Lowy Institute, suggested malaria could spread as far south as Gladstone on mid-Queensland coast.

If temperatures rise 1.5 degrees C and rainfall by 10 per cent in Australia as predicted mosquitoes would thrive for longer and breed more prolifically.

The threat of global warming has already sparked concerns in the Philippines, with health secretary Francisco Duquethere foreseeing "a propensity for cholera, dengue, typhoid [fever] and malaria".

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