On one side of the debate stands researcher Ulisses Confalonieri, of Brazil’s state-run Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), who argues that the press often oversimplifies a very complex issue.

Global warming may be affecting the occurrence and spread of tropical diseases carried by vectors like the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Credit: Jentavery/CC BY 2.0

On the other side, the president of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine (SBMT), Carlos Henrique Costa Nery, told IPS that “it is not outrageous to say that climate change has inevitable consequences for tropical diseases.”

“Global warming is ‘tropicalising’ subtropical regions; rising temperatures could bring an explosion of parasite and insect vectors that are expanding into North America, the Southern Cone of South America, Australia and New Zealand,” Costa Nery said.