PHA-Exchange> ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES ARE SPREADING INFECTIOUS DISEASES - UN STUDY

[Claudio]

From: "Vern Weitzel" <vern.weitzel at undp.org>

ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES ARE SPREADING INFECTIOUS DISEASES – UN STUDY

Dramatic environmental changes now sweeping the planet, such as the loss of
forests and the spread
of cities are promoting conditions for a rise in new and previously
suppressed infectious diseases,
including malaria and bilharzias, according to the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP)
latest yearbook.

Climate change may aggravate the threats of infectious diseases in three
ways, by increasing the
temperatures under which many diseases and their carriers flourish, by
further stressing and
altering habitats, and by causing migrations.

For example, the geographic range and seasonality of two of the world's most
serious mosquito-borne
infections, malaria and dengue fever, are very sensitive to changes in
climate. Neissseria
meningitidis, a common cause of meningitis, can also be spread many miles in
the dusty conditions
that occur following prolonged drought in regions of Africa bordering the
Sahara.

Also a rise in the number of environmental refugees forced to migrate to
other communities or even
countries will favour the spread of diseases from one location to another
where the population may
be more susceptible.

If environmental degradation is not checked then, it is clear from these new
findings that the MDGs will be harder and tougher to achieve.

Together with loss of forests and spread of cities the findings also cite
road and dam building, the
clearing of natural habitats for agriculture, mining and the pollution of
coastal waters.

Expansion of mining and other extractive industries can increase the
incidence of diseases like
malaria. Deforestation and road building often disrupt forest and river
systems increasing the
habitats for malaria-carrying mosquitoes and migration of workers into
previously inaccessible areas
is increasing the population at risk.

Meanwhile, water flow changes and changes in water chemistry associated with
dams like the Aswan in
Egypt and irrigation schemes on the Senegal River are being linked with an
increase in snails
carrying the parasite that causes schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia,
a disease that leads to
chronic ill health.

The Year Book links the emergence of many other old and new diseases with
environmental change. Like
malaria, Japanese encephalitis and dengue hemorrhagic fever are transmitted
to humans by mosquitoes,
which also thrive in standing water.

Increasing level of rubbish and solid wastes in developing countries – a
result of growing
consumerism, poor collection and refuse handling services, fly tipping, lack
of recycling schemes
and inadequate disposal sites – are aggravating the problem. Discarded
plastic bags, old tins and
car tyres offer, when filled with rainwater, perfect new breeding
opportunities for disease-carrying
insects.