Data from: Altitudinal changes in malaria incidence in highlands of Ethiopia and Colombia

The impact of global warming on insect-borne diseases and on highland malaria in particular remains controversial. Temperature is known to influence transmission intensity through its effects on the population growth of the mosquito vector and on pathogen development within the vector. Spatiotemporal data at a regional scale in highlands of Colombia and Ethiopia supplied an opportunity to examine how the spatial distribution of the disease changes with the interannual variability of temperature. We provide evidence for an increase in the altitude of malaria distribution in warmer years, which implies that climate change will, without mitigation, result in an increase of the malaria burden in the densely populated highlands of Africa and South America.全球变暖对虫媒传染病的影响，尤其是高原疟疾的影响，目前仍存在较大争议。已有研究表明，温度可通过影响媒介蚊虫的种群增长以及病原体在媒介体内的发育过程，调控疾病的传播强度。本研究依托哥伦比亚与埃塞俄比亚高原地区的区域尺度时空数据，得以探究疾病的空间分布如何随温度的年际变化发生改变。研究证实，在气温偏高的年份，疟疾分布的海拔上限有所提升；这意味着若不采取气候减缓措施，气候变化将导致非洲与南美洲人口稠密的高原地区疟疾疾病负担进一步加重。