Birds catching malaria in Alaska

Disease may be transmitted north of Arctic Circle within decades

Birds can catch malaria at least as far north as Fairbanks, Alaska, a new study confirms. And at the rate climate is expected to change, the risk zone for avian malaria might stretch beyond the Arctic Circle by 2080.

Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) were among the birds infected with malaria in Fairbanks, Alaska, raising concerns that the mosquito-spread disease is moving north of the Arctic Circle.