Skip to main content
WCS
Menu
Library
Library Catalog
eJournals & eBooks
WCS Research
Archives
Research Use
Finding Aids
Digital Collections
WCS History
WCS Research
Research Publications
Science Data
Services for WCS Researchers
Archives Shop
Bronx Zoo
Department of Tropical Research
Browse By Product
About Us
FAQs
Intern or Volunteer
Staff
Donate
Search WCS.org
Search
search
Popular Search Terms
WCS History
Library and Archives
Library and Archives Menu
Library
Archives
WCS Research
Archives Shop
About Us
Donate
en
fr
Title
Relationships of climate and irrigation factors with malaria parasite incidences in two climatically dissimilar regions in India
Author(s)
Lee, E.;Burkhart, J.;Olson, S.;Billings, A.A.;Patz, J.A.;Harner, E. J.
Published
2016
Publisher
Journal of Arid Environments
Published Version DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2015.08.010
Abstract
We examine how climate and irrigation conditions are associated with malaria infection from 1986 to 1995 in two climatically dissimilar regions in India. We analyze annually averaged malaria parasite incidence (API) and seasonally averaged climate and irrigation variables in western Rajasthan and Arunachal Pradesh. In arid western Rajasthan, API is significantly positively correlated with summer precipitation and soil moisture, and negatively correlated with summer potential evapotranspiration. Irrigation variables during boreal spring show a significant positive correlation with API in the moisture-limited region. In humid Arunachal Pradesh, API is positively related to summer temperature, but negatively related to summer precipitation and spring irrigation variables, while no statistically significant correlations are observed. During the years of high sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the tropical western Pacific, increasing precipitation (accompanied by decreasing temperature) in northwestern India appears to promote malaria infection in arid western Rajasthan. However, during the same years, decreasing precipitation and increasing temperature result in increasing malaria incidence in humid Arunachal Pradesh. The statistically significant relationships of climate and irrigation factors with API in western Rajasthan suggest that increasing spring irrigation activity and wetter summer climates related to warmer SST in tropical western Pacific could increase malaria risk in the arid climate region.
Keywords
Malaria;Precipitation;Temperature;Irrigation;Sea surface temperatures;India
Access Full Text
A full-text copy of this article may be available. Please email the
WCS Library
to request.
Back
PUB19245