In the 1970’s and '80’s, Aedes albopictus mosquitoes came to the U.S. through the used tire trade. These stowaway insects, also known as Asian tiger mosquitoes, can carry viruses like dengue, Zika and chikungunya. They quickly adapted to city life in the southern, eastern and western U.S.

Since then, due to globalization and climate change, insects and the diseases they carry are spreading more widely around the world.

At a two-day workshop this week at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine in Washington, D.C., global public health experts warned that countries like the U.S. are not ready for this looming threat.

“If we don’t do anything, which is basically what we’re doing right now, it’s going to get worse,” Tom Scott, a medical entomologist and professor emeritus at UC Davis, said during the workshop. “The damage from inaction is enormous, it’s unacceptable. It’s unethical.”