Table A
Temperature thresholds (in °C) of pathogens and vectors
| Disease | Pathogen | Tmin | Tmax | Vector | Tmin for vector |
| Malaria | Plasmodium falciparum | 16-19 | 33-39 | Anopheles | Biological activity: 8-10 |
| Malaria | Plasmodium vivax | 14.5-15 | 33-39 | Anopheles | Biological activity: 8-10 |
| Chagas disease | Trypanosoma cruzi | 18 | 38 | Triatomine bugs | Survival: 2-6 Biological activity: 20
|
| Schistosomiasis | Cercaria | 14.2 | >37 | Snails (Bulinus and others) | Biological activity: 5 Optimum range: 25±2
|
| Dengue fever | Dengue virus | 11.9 | not known | Aedes | 6-10 |
| Lyme disease | Borrelia burdorferi | No yet determined | Ixodes ticks | 5-8 |
Tmin is the minimum temperature required for disease transmission.
Tmax for the pathogen is the upper threshold beyond which temperatures
are lethal. Tmax for vectors are not provided.
Note: temperatures assume optimum humidity, vector survival decreases
rapidly as dryness increases. The variation in these thresholds within
and between species is considerable.
Reprinted from McCarthy J, Canziani O, Leary N, Kokken D, White K. Climate
change 2001: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2001. (UN Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change.
Third assessment report, with permission from the IPCC Secretariat.
