The mosquito in question doesn't live in colder environments, this is the same reason why Massachusetts doesn't have a Malaria problem.

"Although the climate in some newly invaded areas is conducive to reproduction and survival of this mosquito, in other areas, harsh winters may prevent survival of overwintering eggs into the spring." See http://jme.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/06/07/jme.t...

Right. Good point!

But the regular outbreaks of bird flu show, that this is not limited to one specific location. With the bird flu, its the markets in Asia, where close contact between poultry and humans creates regular transition of viruses to humans. Fortunately, recent more strict regulations seem to have reduced the bird flu outbreaks.

Edit: For those who are saying, "We are dumb to eat apes." You are actually dumb for not realizing why people would eat apes, because you have a wide range of information gathering resources at your disposal to understand why people would eat apes, but you are not using it, while most of the people who eat apes totally lack information. They are ignorant, while you are actually just dumb.

Is a good and accessible read on the subject. Though it won't do anything good for your ability to sleep.

But what I'm wondering is whether zoonotic diseases from Central Africa generally represent more serious threats than do those from the rest of the world.

The reason you see more of these from Central Africa (and that's one of the reasons I linked the book) if I understand it correctly is that there are some traditions there that make the species jump that much easier.

But all it really takes is a large number of people and a large number of animals in close proximity. Nature tends to find ways to exploit such opportunities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushmeat#Role_in_spread_of_dis...