As climate warming on the globe, the process of melting glaciers, rising sea levels, changing weather conditions. But there is another serious threat: the spread of new and long-forgotten diseases in areas that were once considered safe.
Introducing top 5 deadly diseases associated with global warming.
5. Anthrax
In July 2016, an anthrax outbreak killed 2.3 thousand deer in Yamal. And 96 people living in the area of the outbreak were taken to the hospital for examination for the presence of the disease. In 23 of them, the causative agent of anthrax was found.
Veterinarians suggest that the cause of the spread of infection was an accidental opening of the grave of an animal infected with anthrax. And the abnormal heat contributed to the very rapid and massive spread of deadly disease among deer.
4. Zika virus
It usually does not cause symptoms (except for a slight fever and rash in adults), but it can provoke a miscarriage and microcephaly of the fetus if it enters the body of a pregnant woman. The main carrier of Zika virus is the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti). It bites in the daytime and can breed in rainwater. Currently, a yellow febrile mosquito is found mainly in the tropics, most often in Southeast Asia, South and Central America and parts of Africa. But it can reach regions where global warming will cause drought, and people will begin collecting rainwater for domestic use.
3. Hitherto unknown pathogens
Anthrax is not the only “long-liver” from the rating of potentially dangerous fatal diseases provoked by global warming. In 2015, researchers announced that they had found a virus that was still contagious after 30,000 years in the Siberian permafrost. Fortunately, this virus from the genus Mollivirus only infects amoeba and is not dangerous to humans, but its existence has raised fears that deadly pathogens such as smallpox or unknown viruses may hide in permafrost.
Activities associated with drilling oil wells and extracting minerals under permafrost conditions can cause microbes that have been dormant for many millennia.
2. Tick-borne disease
Ticks are likely to look for new habitats as the climate warms. And along with them will spread diseases such as tick-borne encephalitis. An outbreak of the disease occurs mainly in the warm season, when ticks (and people) are most active.
Another tick-borne problem, Lyme disease, can also spread to new areas as ticks move north. An 2008 article from Ecohealth magazine says that ixodid ticks (the main carriers of Lyme disease) will receive 213% more habitat in Canada in 2080 if climate change continues.
1. Cholera
Deadly cholera tops the list of the most dangerous diseases associated with climate change. The disease spreads through contaminated water.
A 2014 study presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union suggested that increased heat and floods associated with climate change could lead to an outbreak of cholera in areas already suffering from poor sanitation. Flooding can spread contaminated water over long distances, while during drought many cholera bacteria (cholera vibrios) will concentrate in small volumes of water.
Cholera loves warm weather, so the hotter it gets on Earth, and the warmer the water gets, the higher the likelihood of this disease spreading.
