Claim: Climate Change is Spreading Japanese Encephalitis
1 day ago Eric Worrall 41 Comments
Essay by Eric Worrall
You might think the easiest way to stop the spread of a dangerous mosquito borne disease is to spray a few mosquitoes. But the real solution, according to Washington Post, is to combat climate change.
As Australia’s climate changes, a tropical disease advances
An outbreak of Japanese encephalitis has infected 34 people and killed three
By Frances Vinall
ECHUCA, Australia — A dust cloud soars behind farmer Tim Kingma’s pickup truck as he drives down a gritty dirt track to a neat row of pig sheds. The landscapeis flat and muted: dry, mostly treeless ground and patchy grass. At this farm in the southeastern state of Victoria, there are hundreds of flies and not a single visible mosquito. It’s a world away from the verdant places one might expect to find fatal tropical diseases.
Japanese encephalitis is rare and mostly asymptomatic. In 99 percent of cases itpasses through the body without causing symptoms. But of the unlucky 1 percent, nearly a third die, and about half the survivors are left with permanent problems. There is no cure, and Australia is spending millions of dollars in a rush to import vaccine doses.
Public health professionals say the appearance of Japanese encephalitis here is just the latest example of how global warming is contributing to the spread of disease. Six years ago, melting permafrost in Siberia released frozen anthrax, which infected an Indigenous community. In 2007, the tropical chikungunya virus was detected in Europe for the first time in two Italian villages and has since appeared in France. In the United States, Lyme disease cases have doubled over 30 years as warmer conditions create longer tick seasons. And in Australia, experts warn Japanese encephalitis could be the first of several illnesses to spread south.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/04/14/claim-climate-change-spreading-japanese-encephalitis/
