Darkness for the Sparrow

A recent article in ScienceNews has discussed whether light pollution can impact spread of diseases such as West Nile virus and malaria. The innocent looking house sparrow is a healthy looking home to viruses such as West Nile virus. The researchers have found that these house sparrows- which are present all across the United States are able to transport this virus to many regions. Mosquitos that bite the house sparrows can transfer the virus onto humans. Environmental researchers at the University of Nevada and South Florida have taken a keen interest in how the birds interact with human populations in the U.S. One theory that they have tested is to see whether light pollution lends itself to increase in spread of disease. House sparrows that are housed in darkness were shown to have high virus concentration in their blood for 2 days as opposed to when housed in dim lighting they had 4 days of high virus concentration. The light pollution at night only increases the amount of time it takes for the house sparrow immune system to fight off viral infection which just increases the time in which mosquitos may bite the house sparrow and pick up significant viral load to then transmit to humans. This article brings up the question of whether light pollution has impacted malaria transmission as well. If we target light pollution, could we decrease the incidence of diseases like west nile virus and malaria? As the saying goes, more research is needed.

-Meley
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/light-pollution-can-prolong-risk-sparrows-passing-along-west-nile-virus