Studies show global warming can expose one billion people to dengue fever: MEDICINE & HEALTH: Science Times

Global warming could expose up to a billion people to mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and zika by 2080, according to a study that examines temperature changes on a monthly basis in the world. whole world.

The news is bad even in areas where the risk of a mosquito-friendly climate is minimal, as the viruses they carry are notoriously conducive to explosive epidemics when they show up at the right place in the right conditions, according to the study published in the newspaper. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

"Climate change is the biggest and most comprehensive threat to global health security," said Colin J Carlson, a postdoctoral researcher at Georgetown University in the United States. "Mosquitoes are only part of the challenge, but after the zika epidemic in Brazil in 2015, we are particularly concerned for what will follow," Carlson said.

The team, led by Sadie J Ryan of the University of Florida and Carlson, investigated what would happen if the two most prevalent disease-carrying mosquitoes – Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus – followed and moved as temperature increased. changed over the decades.

According to the World Health Organization, mosquitoes are one of the most deadly animals in the world, carrying diseases that cause millions of deaths each year. Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus can both be infected by dengue, Chikunguyna and Zika viruses, as well as by at least a dozen other emerging diseases that researchers say could pose a threat in the 50s. coming years.

With global warming, researchers estimate that almost the entire world population could be exposed at some point in the next 50 years. As the temperature increases, they expect year-round transmissions in the tropics and seasonal hazards almost everywhere else. Greater intensity of infections is also expected.

"These diseases, which we consider strictly tropical, are already manifesting in favorable climate regions, such as Florida, because humans are very efficient at moving insects and their pathogens around the world," Ryan said. More severe climate change would result in less population exposure to the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

However, in the regions most affected by global warming, particularly West Africa and South-East Asia, the Aedes albopictus mosquito is expected to experience significant reductions, particularly in South-East Asia and Africa. from West. This mosquito carries dengue, chikunguyna and zika.