GoKawiilStudies predict that the spread of mosquitoes will put billions more people at risk of mosquito-borne diseases in the coming decades.Credit: David Forster/Alamy
Earlier this month, the UK Health Security Agency warned people travelling abroad during the summer holidays to protect themselves against mosquito-borne diseases.
That threat is no longer limited to tropical countries.
Disease-carrying mosquitoes have now spread to previously unaffected regions in Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australia. Between June 2025 and April 2026, Aedes albopictus — a mosquito that can transmit dengue and chikungunya — spread to new regions in several European countries, including Portugal, France and Greece.
In 2024, the estimated number of malaria cases totalled 282 million, up from 273 million in 2023, and 610,000 people are thought to have died from the disease (see ‘Malaria remains a deadly disease’).
Source: WHO
Over the past two decades, chikungunya — a viral disease that causes fever and joint pain — has also emerged in more than 100 countries, causing outbreaks in China, Italy and France in the past two years. Last year in Cuba, an outbreak that started in July killed 46 people. Every year, about 14.4 million people worldwide are thought to develop chikungunya, with most of the cases occurring in South Asia and Latin America1.
Dengue also hit a record high, with more than 14 million reported cases and 12,000 deaths worldwide (see ‘Dengue is a growing threat in the Americas’).
Source: Pan American Health Organisation
Mosquito invasions
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