Climate Change To Bite a Hand That Feeds It?

The Health Security Agency (HSA) has been considering 'plausible worse case scenarios' for likely impacts of global heating on the UK, by the 2040s-2050s. Unremarkably, the HSA thinks heat-related deaths (especially in the very young and aged folk) will become more common. It also predicts that the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) will continue its northward spread. Bites by these insects have recently been linked to cases of Dengue fever in France and Chikungunya virus in Italy (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67654008). The HSA think that parts of the UK (starting in southern England and expanding towards southern Scotland) could become home to the Asian tiger mosquito, spreading Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika viruses from infected folk. These viral infections are all serious. The HSA suggests that folk in infected areas will have to learn to store water differently. The mosquito larvae only need small amounts of water to breed (a rain-killed tin can?). As was seen with Zika virus at the time of the Brazil Olympics, eliminating potential mosquito breeding sites, is a major operation. The HSA suggest that some of these challenges can be avoided by altered human behaviour. Their 'plausible worse case scenarios', however, could be a lot more extreme. The HSA might be being too optimistic about the scenarios as well as our ability to avoid them.