Scientists warn climate change will increase the spread of infectious diseases

With the world still reeling from the Covid pandemic, leading scientists are warning that global warming will impact more than half of known infectious diseases which commonly spread via water or animals.

These include malaria in Africa and chikungunya in Latin America, both of which are spread by mosquitoes.

Climate change-related epidemics

According to Professor Tulio de Oliveira, director of the University of Stellenbosch-based Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation, part of a group of scientists working in collaboration with the Abbott Pandemic Defence Coalition, Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organisation, the world was likely to see an outbreak of climate change-related epidemics in the next few years.

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“These epidemics will emerge often, affecting global travel. Climate change, coupled with the concentration of population in one area, such as on the Cape Flats, will lead to the outbreak of epidemics.

“But this does not mean the next epidemic has to become a pandemic. That is why we have to act quickly – identify teams that collaborate all around the world, with governments and industry playing a role to protect the world for the next epidemic,” said De Oliveira.

De Oliveira said a team of scientists was dispatched to flood-ravaged Malawi, which recently had the “worst cholera outbreak in African history – 100 000 cases – following an extreme climate event”.

“Two weeks ago, we responded to Paraguay, where the country experienced the worst outbreak of chikungunya, which is transmitted by mosquitoes.

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“It’s the worst epidemic in the history of Latin America. “Warm and rainy weather led to a mosquito-driven epidemic – what climate change is going to lead to in the next few years,” said De Oliveira.

Abbott – a global healthcare leader – this week announced a partnership with the Climate Amplified Disease and Epidemics (Climade) consortium, a group of global scientists in public health agencies, academia and industry focused on using data science technology and diagnostic testing, to tackle the impact of climate change on disease outbreaks.

Climate change effects, such as warmer temperatures and a rise in droughts and floods, have accelerated the spread of diseases and are set to fuel a new era of pandemics.

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As part of the consortium, scientists trained in infectious diseases, bioinformatics and data science will develop technologies that can aggregate environmental, weather and viral sequencing data sets to predict if conditions could cause a disease outbreak.

If a potential outbreak is identified, resources and rapid surveillance testing can be sent to that location, to prevent further spread.

Best minds come together

“We are bringing together the best minds in the medical, scientific and public health communities to help the world create a robust surveillance system that quickly identifies pathogens and tracks their evolution and spread,” said De Oliveira.

“This collaboration is critical to pandemic preparedness and to our ability to go from responding to outbreaks to predicting them before they occur.”

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Climade will start with disease surveillance in Africa and expand to countries around the world that are often impacted by infectious disease outbreaks.

– brians@citizen.co.za