WEB DESK
Ethiopian scientists have said that an invasive species of mosquito was likely responsible for a large malaria outbreak in Ethiopia this year. Ethiopian scientist, Fitsum Tadesse presented research that says a malaria outbreak in the city of Dire Dawa was strongly linked to the invasive Anopheles stephensi species of mosquito.
The number of cases reported in the city jumped from 205 in 2019 to 2,400 in the first five months of 2022 largely in the dry season. The species of mosquito is typically found around India and Iran. However, in 2012, it was spotted in Djibouti and has now also been found in neighboring Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia, as well as in Nigeria.
According to media reports that when the mosquito was first detected in Djibouti, the country was close to eradicating malaria with just 27 reported cases that year, meanwhile, by 2020, there were 73,000 cases reported in the country.
In 2020, 95 percent of the world’s 627,000 malaria deaths were in Africa.