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Brazilian authorities have reported an explosion in the number of cases of dengue fever due to the increasingly extreme weather conditions that favor the spread of the potentially fatal disease transmitted by mosquitoes.
In recent years, Brazil has experienced a series of outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases, including yellow fever in the São Paulo region last year, as well as the Zika virus, which s & # 39; 39, was quickly spread in the north-east of the country in 2015.
Some scientists have argued that the current outbreak of dengue, which triggers severe flu-like symptoms, can be attributed to the spread of Zika, which has left Brazilians more vulnerable to tropical disease. Whatever the reason, the numbers are surprising:
In the first six months of 2019, the largest country in Latin America recorded nearly 1.2 million dengue cases, a jump of almost 600% over the same period last year.
The number of deaths has increased by 220% to 388. The move is expected to exacerbate concerns about the impact of global warming on public health at a time when many world leaders, including President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, are demonstrating low appetite for the protection of the environment.
This surge is of particular concern to scientists as it has continued into the winter season, when the disease is expected to decline.
"This year is very different because dengue has been circulating for much longer and is due to global warming," said Ester Sabino, a professor at the Institute of Tropical Medicine at the University of São Paulo. "We had more days with high temperatures, so the mosquitoes continue to multiply."
Officials from the Brazilian Ministry of Health and other experts also pointed to increasingly extreme weather phenomena, including rising temperatures and heavy rainfall, as well as the emergence of a new strain of Caribbean dengue.
According to the Brazilian Expert Group on Climate Change, average temperatures in Brazil are expected to increase by 6 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
Dengue mainly affects the poorest Brazilians. In the absence of running water, many people in the country's favelas use open water reservoirs to collect rainfall – a facility that invariably attracts mosquitoes.
Sabino said the risk of spreading such diseases around the world would become increasingly acute in the coming years as temperatures rise.
"With global warming, Europe, for example, will also be exposed to these mosquitoes and, as a result, to diseases such as dengue fever. we [already] I have had cases of the chikungunya virus in Spain, "she said.
Bolsonaro is a declared skeptic of the global climate crisis. At one point, he said that he would take his country out of the Paris climate agreement.
At the recent G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, Bolsonaro denounced global concerns about climate change, telling German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Brazil had become the target of "environmental psychosis".
The spread of mosquito-borne diseases in South America has been facilitated by the collapse of the Venezuelan health system. Between 2016 and 2017 alone, the number of malaria cases in the country jumped by 70%.
In February, a report published in The lancet The medical journal warned of an epidemic of malaria and dengue fever due to the persistent crisis in Venezuela.
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By Bryan Harris
OZY works in partnership with the Financial Times of the United Kingdom to bring you badysis and high-end features. © The Financial Times Limited 2019.
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