A leading expert has announced that due to the global warming caused by climate change, diseases transmitted by mosquitoes are expanding globally, particularly in Europe. Illnesses like malaria and dengue fever, which mosquitoes carry, have seen a massive growth over the past eight decades as increasing global temperatures have created the hot, humid environments in which these insects flourish.
Professor Rachel Lowe, head of the global health resilience team at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center in Spain, has issued a warning that these diseases are predicted to proliferate in currently unaffected regions of northern Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia in the coming years. She plans to give a talk at the world Congress of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Barcelona, cautioning the global community to anticipate a significant increase in these disease occurrences.
She observed, “Global warming caused by climate change allows disease carriers spreading malaria and dengue fever to inhabit more regions, leading to outbreaks in areas where local populations may lack immunity and public health systems may be unprepared. Sadly, the truth is that extended heatwaves will expand the seasonal window for disease spread by mosquitoes, resulting in more complex and frequent outbreaks.”
Traditionally dengue fever was predominantly found in tropical and subtropical areas as freezing overnight temperatures kill the insect’s larvae and eggs. However, increased lengths of hot seasons and a decrease in frost frequency have contributed to it becoming the world’s fastest-growing mosquito-borne viral disease, establishing a presence in Europe.
As of 2023, the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), a carrier of dengue fever, is thriving in 13 European countries: Italy, France, Spain, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Greece, and Portugal. Nine out of 10 of the most conducive years for disease transmission have been since 2000. The WHO has witnessed an eightfold rise in reported dengue cases over the last two decades, with numbers rising from 500,000 in 2000 to over 5 million in 2019.
Additionally, Prof Lowe highlighted that climate-related issues like floods and droughts will intensify this spread, as standing water from these events can provide additional breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
Insights from prior epidemics highlight the necessity of evaluating potential risks of disease spread by organisms and devising emergency plans for potential future epidemics. If the current trend of high carbon emissions and population growth continues unabated, the number of individuals at risk of exposure to diseases transmitted by mosquitos could surge to 4.7 billion by the turn of the century, she warned.
She further stated that considering the challenge posed by climate change, rising instances and potential fatalities from diseases such as dengue and malaria across Europe can be expected. It’s imperative to foresee and act promptly to halt the occurrence of diseases before they can take hold.
She emphasised the need to concentrate efforts on bolstering surveillance, implementing early warning systems, and response mechanisms akin to those in other parts of the world. This would allow for a more effective allocation of limited resources, helping target vulnerable areas, control and halt disease spread, and save lives.
The conference will feature another presentation highlighting how climate damage is escalating the threat from resistance to antimicrobial drugs. Professor Sabiha Essack, leading the antimicrobial resistance unit at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, outlined how climate damage acts as a “threat multiplier” for antimicrobial resistance.
She noted that climate change undermines the ecological and environmental health of living systems, adding to the growing capabilities of pathogens to cause disease. The consequent effects on water systems, livestock, and crops pose a threat to the global food supply.
Professor Essack also pointed out that human activities related to population increase, transport, coupled with climate change, aggravates antibiotic resistance and propagation of waterborne and vector-borne diseases affecting humans, animals, and plant life.