Research
Assessment of the risk of malaria re-introduction in the Maremma plain (Central Italy) using a multi-factorial approach
1 Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immuno-mediated Diseases, Unit of Vector Borne Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, Rome 00161, Italy
2 Consorzio LAMMA, Laboratory of Monitoring and Environmental Modelling for Sustainable Development Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy
3 Operative Unit of Environmental Zoology, AUSL 9, Grosseto, Italy
4 Institute of Biometeorology, National Research Council, Florence, Italy
5 Institut Pasteur, Plateforme CEPIA Département de Parasitologie et Mycologie, Paris, France
6 UMR MIVEGEC, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Montpellier, France
7 IBAF Department, Università della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
Malaria Journal 2012, 11:98 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-11-98
Published: 30 March 2012First paragraph (this article has no abstract)
In recent years, the increase in globalization [1], the rise in the average temperature of the earth together with an increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, as storms, floods and droughts [2,3], and the environmental changes induced by human activities [4], have raised the concern about the possible introduction or reintroduction of Vector Borne Diseases in Countries where these were absent or eradicated [5]. These considerations, coupled with the recent spread of some mosquito vector borne diseases in Europe [6,7] and the increasing number of imported malaria cases recorded in the Continent [8] have renewed interest in the possible reintroduction of malaria in Southern Europe [7-9], particularly in the countries facing the Western Mediterranean Basin, where potential Anopheline vectors are still present [10-13]. Moreover, in recent years autochthonous malaria cases have been sporadically reported in Italy, France, Spain and Greece [14-20].
