Climate change plays a role in global rise of dengue fever
Source: NPR
November 23, 2024 8:47 AM ET
In 2023, some 6 million cases of dengue fever were reported worldwide — more than ever before. Then, 2024 blew that record away. More than 12 million cases have been reported worldwide so far this year. Case numbers had been rising for years before that, though. Now, a new study awaiting peer review suggests that climate change has likely played a significant role in the expansion of the disease from 1995 to 2014, according to an analysis presented in November at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference in New Orleans.
Over that time period, climate change increased the caseload by roughly 20% across the 21 countries in the study — all places where dengue fever was already established, like Indonesia, India and Brazil. The numbers could skyrocket with further climate change, even beyond the record-breaking case numbers from the past few years, says Erin Mordecai, an infectious disease expert at Stanford University and one of the authors of the new analysis.
"Many of the places in the study region are going to more than double their projected dengue incidence" if human-caused climate change continues to aggressively heat up the planet, she says. But the growth could be contained — not stopped, but at least minimized — if climate action keeps global temperatures in check, she stresses.
Dengue fever is the most common tropical disease in the world. In about a quarter of cases, it can drive painful fever and the sensation of aching joints and bones leads to its common name "breakbone fever." In a small percentage of cases — and most often when someone contracts the disease for a second time — it can be fatal.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2024/11/23/nx-s1-5193356/climate-change-dengue-fever-mosquito-mexico-brazil
Link to STUDY - Climate warming is expanding dengue burden in the Americas and Asia