Tropical diseases, latent risk

• April 19, 2024

Figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) confirm that approximately 3,300 million people - that is, half of the world's population - live in endemic areas where malaria and other tropical diseases, such as dengue and leishmaniasis, are vulnerable. What is feared is that, as a result of climate change, these infectious diseases spread even further.

The increase of one or two degrees in the average temperature of some regions of the world, could cause, for example, that between 40 and 60 million people are in danger of contracting tropical disease, given that the increase in temperatures favors the survival of mosquitoes, as well as the development and multiplication of the parasites that cause these diseases.

On the other hand, high temperatures also encourage the migration of tropical insects to regions where they do not usually live. In other cases, climate change lengthens the insect breeding season by considerably increasing its population.

A couple of years ago, alarms sounded in Spain. With uneven temperatures and an extremely hot summer, there was talk of the ravages of global warming and the possibility of some African diseases reaching the Iberian Peninsula, especially those transmitted by mosquito bites, such as dengue and malaria.

The future threatens sporadic outbreaks

A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations, published in 1995, predicted: "more droughts, fires and water scarcity, along with more deaths produced by heat waves like the one that caused hundreds of victims in the Southwest and Midwest of the United States in 1995. Tropical diseases like malaria would spread as mosquitoes and other transmitters reach new areas. "

For his part, Dr. Rogelio López-Vélez, an expert in infectious diseases at the Ramón y Cajal Hospital in Madrid, has pointed out that "it is impossible for these diseases to become endemic again", although sporadic or occasional outbreaks could occur, even when the change Climate change is closely related to the health of people and there is a risk of the arrival of tropical diseases already eradicated in many developed countries.

Video Medicine: Tuberculosis (TB): Progression of the Disease, Latent and Active Infections. (April 2024).