Global warming brings the disease closer, but global warming is just one problem: there is also deforestation and the fact that humans are penetrating deeper into existing ecosystems.
Since the 1980s, the most pathogenic form of leishmaniasis has been able to spread more among humans as they penetrate deeper and deeper into the jungle. Think guerrillas or drug traffickers. epidemic. We can now make these connections very clearly because we have such a unique collection of parasites. “
Van den Broeck concludes with an unmistakable warning: “As the climate continues to change, we will see more and more tropical diseases appear in our regions. And they come to stay,” he says. “Transmitters such as tiger mosquitoes, sand flies and ticks can thrive here increasingly better. Tiger mosquitoes have already been found in Belgium. They cannot hibernate here yet, but when it gets warmer, they will be able to do so.”
The ITM investigation will be published soon in the American trade journal PNAS.
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