Abstract
Disease outbreaks are known to be often influenced by local weather, but how changes in disease trends might be affected by long-term global warming is more difficult to establish. In a study of malaria in the African highlands, Hay et al.1 found no significant change in long-term climate at four locations where malaria incidence has been increasing since 1976. We contend, however, that their conclusions are likely to be flawed by their inappropriate use of a global climate data set. Moreover, the absence of a historical climate signal allows no inference to be drawn about the impact of future climate change on malaria in the region.
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Patz, J., Hulme, M., Rosenzweig, C. et al. Regional warming and malaria resurgence. Nature 420, 627–628 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/420627a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/420627a
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