The model suggests that the optimum temperature for transmission is 24–25°C (75.2–77°F).
Around 70% of the U.S. population live in regions where summer temperatures are currently below this range, whereas 30% live in areas above the range.The authors write in the journal eLife, “we might expect a net increase in transmission of West Nile virus in response to the warming climate, even as hot temperatures suppress transmission in some places.”“As the climate warms, it is critical to understand how temperature changes will affect the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases,” says lead author Marta Shocket, who was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford when the models were developed and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of.