Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and larvae 鈥� which can transmit infections like dengue, chikungunya and Zika virus 鈥� have been found breeding in the UK.

on 3 September that the species had been detected at residential properties in east London. This marks the fourth time it has been discovered in the UK in recent years, and the first time it has been found breeding.

The mosquitoes are usually found in more tropical climes. So, is this a result of climate change? How concerned should we be? Here鈥檚 what you need to know.

What do we know about A. aegypti?

A. aegypti mosquitoes are native to North Africa, but can be found in tropical and temperate regions around the world, including parts of Europe. Although the species has been seen in the UK before, this is the first time these mosquitoes have been found breeding in the country.

The species can transmit many different pathogens, including the dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika viruses. It commonly feeds at dusk and dawn, indoors and in shady areas.

Where were the mosquitoes found?

According to the UKHSA, the mosquitoes and larvae were found breeding in residential properties in east London. They were spotted and reported under the government鈥檚 scheme, which aims to detect the presence of invasive mosquitoes.

The UKHSA said the larvae have been destroyed and promised the area will be monitored closely to eradicate any further mosquitoes and larvae that might emerge.

What is the threat to public health?

The UKHSA insists the threat to public health remains very low. There is no evidence the A. aegypti mosquitoes found in London have transmitted any infections to people, and so far no more mosquitoes or larvae have been found in nearby public areas.

at the University of Oxford said in a statement to the Science Media Centre that the discovery of their presence should be seen as an 鈥渆arly warning rather than an immediate public-health threat鈥�.

It is worth noting that the UK is home to many species of native mosquitoes, but these generally don鈥檛 carry serious infections, and are largely an annoyance rather than a public-health threat.

How did they get to the UK?

at the UKHSA said in a statement that the mosquitoes were likely to be 鈥渁ccidental importations鈥�, having 鈥渉itchhiked鈥� in vehicles, in suitcases or via imported plants.

Are these mosquitoes here to stay?

The UK has just had its hottest summer on record. London has seen some of the highest temperatures in the country, as heatwaves are usually amplified in cities due to the urban heat island effect.

That may mean the mosquitoes have been able to successfully breed over the summer months this year. But Medlock said the UK鈥檚 climate is still too cold overall to enable the mosquitoes to breed over the long term 鈥� for now.

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Is this a sign of climate change?

Mosquitoes are expanding their range north as the climate warms. Warmer weather also increases the rate at which viruses replicate in an insect鈥檚 body.

That means mosquito-borne viruses are rapidly becoming more common in Europe as the continent warms. In late August, cases of locally transmitted dengue, West Nile and chikungunya viruses across the country, including Paris.

And a published earlier this year found that the Asian tiger mosquito, another invasive mosquito species in Europe, can transmit chikungunya over several months of the year on the continent. The study authors said Europe鈥檚 rapid rate of warming was enabling virus transmission to become more widespread across the region.

Over time, the threat of mosquito-borne disease to the British public is also expected to rise. Last year, West Nile virus was detected in the UK for the first time in mosquitoes in Nottinghamshire. For now, authorities hope to keep invasive mosquitoes out of the country for as long as possible to prevent disease transmission.

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What should I do if I am stung by a mosquito?

For most people in the UK, a mosquito bite is an annoyance but nothing to worry about. It will usually produce a red, itchy swelling that will subside within a few days. If you develop a fever or become unwell, and have recently travelled to a location where dengue, chikungunya or Zika is circulating, you should seek medical attention.

How can I prevent mosquitoes breeding in my home?

女生小视频 say it is important to minimise the chance of mosquitoes breeding in the UK, to try to prevent invasive species gaining a foothold on UK shores. A. aegypti mosquitoes are well adapted to human environments and can breed in small quantities of standing water, so the most important action people can take is to eliminate, as far as possible, any standing water around the home. That could include emptying water trays under houseplants, clearing rainfall from containers, keeping lids on rain barrels, washing out pet bowls and flower vases regularly and keeping shower areas as clean and dry as possible between use.

If you spot a mosquito in the UK, you can report it to the scheme.

The UK鈥檚 dry, hot and sunny summer has provisionally entered the record books as the hottest season for the country since records began in 1884.

The average temperature for the months of June, July and August was 16.5掳C (61.7掳F), the national weather service, the Met Office, said on 1 September, blowing through the previous summer record of 16.1掳C (61掳F)鈥� set just last year.

鈥淭he conditions we鈥檝e seen this summer have broken UK climate records once again,鈥� said at the Met Office in a statement.

Summer in the UK began with the second warmest June on record, followed by the second-warmest July. But the heat remained almost constant throughout the three-month period, with 38掳C (100.4掳F) recorded for the first time in June in Norfolk, and 38.1掳C (100.6掳F) recorded at Kew Gardens in London on 13 August.

Much of England is now in the grip of a severe drought after rainfall vanished from many parts of the country during July. The hot, dry conditions have damaged crops, strained healthcare systems and triggered severe wildfires.

Fossil fuel emissions fuelled the high temperatures, with climate change making a summer like 2026 around 130 times more likely to occur, the Met Office said.

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鈥淚n a climate unaffected by human emissions of greenhouse gases, a summer like this would be exceptionally unlikely, i.e. 1 in over 1,000 years,鈥� at the Met Office said in a statement. 鈥淚n our current climate, which is changing because of the effect of burning of fossil fuels, we should now expect this to be roughly a 1 in 9 year event.鈥�

The top five warmest summers for the UK have all occurred since 2003. This trend will only intensify in the future as rising global temperatures cause summers in the UK to be increasingly hot and dry. Under 4掳C of warming, the summer just gone would be considered cool or below average for the UK, the Met Office said.

In response to the announcement, at the World Wildlife Fund said in a statement: 鈥淭hese stark figures prove what we have been experiencing first hand, we are getting hotter and hotter. And the climate will continue to heat up until we cut our emissions to net zero.鈥�

A super El Ni帽o that is gathering strength in the Pacific Ocean may have been made worse by climate change, according to new analysis of coral records that suggest El Ni帽os have become more intense as global temperatures have climbed.

The impacts of El Ni帽o 鈥� droughts, floods and storms 鈥� are already exacerbated by rising global temperatures, because a warmer atmosphere intensifies both rainfall and droughts.

But scientists have long struggled to untangle the effect of climate change on the El Ni帽o Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, which drives El Ni帽o events. Part of the difficulty is that detailed observational records only began in the 1980s. A much longer timescale than that is needed to tease out a trend from natural variability.

at the University of Michigan and her colleagues hope corals can provide the answer. They collected living and dead corals from around the Galapagos Islands in the eastern Pacific ocean, where El Ni帽os first develop.

They used uranium and thorium dating to identify the age of the corals, then analysed the chemistry of their skeletons to track changes to sea temperatures during their lifetime. In that way, they built a time series of sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific spanning the past 1000 years.

El Ni帽o and La Ni帽a events are measured by changes to sea surface temperatures in the Pacific, so by building this time series, Cole and her colleagues could track the fluctuating ENSO cycle through the centuries.

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鈥淭he chemistry of the coral skeleton preserves a record of the environment in which it grew, and certain aspects of the chemistry are especially sensitive to temperature changes,鈥� says Cole.

The team found that, over the past 40 years, variability in the ENSO cycle has increased by 36.5 per cent compared with the pre-industrial period. This increase in variability has been driven largely by more intense El Ni帽o events, the analysis found.

The corals collected by the team covered about half the 1000-year time period. Nevertheless, Cole is confident in the overall trend identified. 鈥淚 think we show pretty clearly that the increase in variability in ENSO is tracking global temperature closely,鈥� she says.

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The findings add to an that suggests the ENSO cycle is changing in response to rising temperatures. 鈥淭he evidence is better than 50-50 that climate change is affecting El Ni帽o,鈥� says at Columbia University in New York, used tree ring data to identify an increase in El Ni帽o activity in recent years.

Although the research does not include the recent El Ni帽os in 2015, 2023 and 2026, Cole says they are consistent with the trend identified by the corals. When the current El Ni帽o peaks at the end of this year, sea surface temperatures in the east-central Pacific Ocean are projected to reach 4掳C above normal, a 60 per cent increase over the old record.

at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) agrees. 鈥淚f the current El Ni帽o turns out to be as strong as we expect, that past decade will have witnessed three major El Ni帽os 鈥� a sequence not seen before in the instrumental record dating back to the late 19th century,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t will add to the mounting evidence that climate change is amplifying the ENSO cycle鈥� which is a concern considering the far-reaching global impacts that ENSO has on humans and natural systems.鈥�