By Marilyn Parsons

'Waiting until they are on our doorstep is reckless and shortsighted'

The world is faced yet again with an alarming disease for which we are woefully unprepared to combat: the mosquito-borne Zika virus. Just a few years ago, the virus was not present in the Western hemisphere. Today, there are up to 1.3 million estimated cases in Brazil, and cases have been reported in other countries in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, as well as in the U.S.

Mosquitos kill more humans every year than any other animal. We know exactly how dangerous they can be, making the frequency with which they catch us off guard all the more disconcerting.

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Read the full article on TIME.com by Affiliate Professor Marilyn Parsons