Climate change has wide-ranging effects, including rising temperatures, melting icecaps and extreme weather conditions. This apart, a new aspect of climate change is worrying the global health community these days. The latest discovery that climate change is also responsible for mosquito-borne diseases, for instance Zika, has given rise to widespread concerns.
Till recently, Zika outbreaks were only reported from Africa, the Pacific Islands and some countries in Southeast Asia. However, over time, the virus has affected people in Brazil and other Central American nations. Now, there are reports of suspected Zika infections in the United States too. It is feared that during this spring and summer, the infection may spread to newer regions, prompting health and environmental officials to prepare for the potentially next big disease outbreak, The Atlantic reported.
Incidentally, a team of scientists made a noteworthy discovery last year. They found that Aedis aegypti mosquitoes, the species that carries the West Nile Virus, dengue, chickungunya and Zika, inhabited the area around the Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., throughout the year. According to the findings of the research, published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the mosquitoes had been living in the area since no less than 2011.
The study confirmed that Aedis aegypti mosquitoes have been biting the local residents and reproducing during the summer months, while lying underground during the winter. Earlier, scientists were of opinion that these mosquitoes were unable to survive throughout the year in any place north of South Carolina.
However, the researchers do not have any evidence that the Aedis aegypti population found in the vicinity of Washington D.C. carried the Zika virus. Nevertheless, their findings have surprised as well as shocked the health and environmental officials in the U.S. They believe that the spread of this mosquito species to the United States is partly owing to the effects of climate change.
Earlier, only places lying in a narrow strip on both sides of the equator were known to have witnessed Zika outbreak. The first case of Zika in Brazil was confirmed by the Pan American Health Organization only in 2015 and recently it was found that an American student from Virginia contacted the Zika virus when he traveled to Central America.
Now, the authorities are suspecting that there are at least a dozen Zika infection cases in the United States. Latest reports claim that three pregnant women in Florida have tested positive to Zika infections.
What is, however, more concerning is that climate change is not only likely to benefit Zika, AlJazeera America reported. Way back in 1999, scientists guessed that an additional 320 million people worldwide were likely to face the risks of developing malaria by 2080 owing to climate change. This is primarily because the climatic conditions then would be favorable for the survival of mosquitoes bearing this disease.
Moreover, scientists predicted in 1998 that climate change may also increase the risks of dengue fever, making it a global epidemic. Although dengue is yet to be a global epidemic, the disease is rapidly spreading to areas where it was unheard of earlier. For instance, a state of emergency was declared by the mayor of Hawaii County on Feb. 8 following a mosquito-borne dengue fever epidemic.
Watch why you should be worried about Zika virus: