The chief scientist at the World Health Organization, Jeremy Farrar, said that dengue fever will pose a major threat in the southern United States, southern Europe and new areas of Africa during this decade because rising temperatures create the conditions for the spread of mosquitoes that carry the infection.
This disease has afflicted most parts of Asia and Latin America for a long time, and it causes the death of about 20,000 people every year, according to Reuters.
Incidence rates have already risen eight-fold globally since 2000, largely due to climate change, increased travel and urbanization.
Many cases are not recorded, but in 2022, 4.2 million infections were recorded worldwide.
Public health officials have warned that near-record infection levels are expected this year.
Bangladesh is currently experiencing its worst outbreak of the disease ever, with more than a thousand people dead.
“We need to start talking much more about dengue,” Jeremy Farrar, an infectious disease specialist who joined the World Health Organization last May, told Reuters.
“We really need to prepare countries on how to deal with the additional pressures that they will be exposed to…in the future in many, many major cities,” he added.
Farrar spent 18 years working in Vietnam on tropical diseases, including dengue fever.
He later chaired the global health charity Wellcome Trust and advised the British government on its response to Covid-19 before joining the World Health Organization last May.
Farrar suggested that the infection would “spread” and settle in areas of the United States, Europe, and Africa, all areas where the infection is already transmitted on a limited scale, because the phenomenon of global warming makes new areas a suitable environment for the mosquitoes that spread the disease.
He warned that this would put great pressure on hospital systems in many countries.
What is dengue fever? Dengue fever is a viral infection that is transmitted to humans when they are bitten by infected mosquitoes
Dengue fever is a viral infection that is transmitted to humans when they are exposed to the bites of mosquitoes carrying this infection, according to “Global Health Organization“.
Nearly half of the world’s population is currently at risk of dengue fever, with estimates of 100 to 400 million infections occurring annually.
Dengue occurs in tropical and subtropical climates around the world, particularly in urban and peri-urban areas.
Most people who become infected with dengue fever do not show symptoms, meaning infection rates are believed to be much higher than recorded numbers.
Those infected with the disease suffer from fever, muscle cramps, and severe joint pain, so much so that it is known as “bone-breaking fever.”
Although many dengue virus infections are asymptomatic or cause only mild illness, the virus can sometimes cause more severe cases, and even death.
In severe cases, less than one percent, it may be fatal.
There is no specific treatment for dengue fever, although there is a vaccine for it.
2023-10-06 06:54:22
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