Infection Prevention Sabotaged by Global WarmingI suspect you are tired of hearing about global warming. We are inundated these days with so much shocking scientific data, celebrity campaigning and down right - fear mongering. But I want to put my "two cents worth" in on this topic. Some of my friends and relatives say that I relate EVERYTHING to infection and the adverse outcomes it produces - maybe so. But I want you to know that global warming causes more infectious disease in the world - especially those diseases spread by vectors (insects and mosquitoes). Rising temperatures around the world is a surprising but significant contributor to an increase in infectious diseases. The number of insects that carry disease can increase and these vectors which thrive in warmer areas will relocate to new areas which have warmed up. So vector-borne diseases like malaria, encephalitis, Dengue fever may increase in number and expand their geographic area of destruction. Malaria is found in >100 countries now. As temps rise, the mosquitoes that carry malaria, may spread to new areas like Scandinavia and the UK where it is currently too cold to support them. More than 900,000 Africans die each year of malaria - most of them children. We should also consider the morbidity malaria causes - I don't think those statistics are computed but malaria causes a terrific infection with pounding headache, fever and chills, muscle aches, back ache, vomiting, and diarrhea. So many people around the globe survive the infection but are very ill feel like they are dying - 2-4 times a year!As temps increase - so does the number of people who get infectious diseases. Example: cases of Dengue fever are projected to double with an increase of 3.6 degrees F. In North America, we tend to think of these infectious diseases as "someone else's problem" but they may be coming to our neighborhood soon. .....................I thought you should know.
This entry was posted on April 30th, 2008 at 12:00 pm. RSS
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