Editorial Where Snails No Longer Fear to Tread

The reality of global warming and its consequent climate change seems indisputable, even if governments continue to argue about their causes and possible remedies. It would now seem prudent for Journal readers (i.e., those among us who are most familiar with the “tropical ” infections) to anticipate the impact that climate change will have on disease transmis-sion. Of special concern will be the changes that occur in climates now classified as sub-tropical or temperate. In this issue of the Journal, Xiao-Nong Zhou and others1 use ad-vanced and well-parameterized spatial analytic techniques to map out the probable impact of climate change on schistoso-miasis transmission in China. Of particular importance is that fact that Oncomelania hu-pensis, the snail that transmits schistosomiasis in China, is cold tolerant and can survive in areas experiencing mean tem