With global warming there’s more at stake than melting icebergs, dying coral reefs and bizarre changes in weather patterns. As temperatures rise, so will the incidence of disease – and it won’t just hit the nations of the developing world. Britain is at risk, too.
According to a paper published in the British Medical Journal this week, global warming will drive up rates of cardio-respiratory disease, diarrhea and insect-borne diseases in the United Kingdom.
The body has to work harder to cool down when it’s hot outside. A lot of blood is circulated to the skin to keep it cool, which causes strain on the heart. Higher pollution levels from greenhouse gases are expected to increase asthma rates and other respiratory problems.
As mentioned in my post on dengue fever, rising temperatures will likely bring mosquitoes and other insects farther north than they would normally migrate. While it may be hard to believe, malaria could pose a threat to Britain.
Tony McMichael, an author of the study, explained the potential magnitude of the malaria threat to Earthtimes.org:
“While it is unlikely to cause entirely new diseases it will alter the incidence, range and seasonality of many existing health disorders,” he wrote. “So, for example, by 2080 between 20 and 70 million more people could be living in malarial regions due to climate change.”
The UK’s Times Online spoke with an expert who explained the possibility of vector-borne illnesses traveling northward:
“Climate change poses a significant risk of the introduction of vector-borne diseases into Europe and indeed there is evidence that such change has already happened,” says Paul Hunter, a professor of health protection at the University of East Anglia. “Several vector-borne diseases not previously described in Europe have appeared, including chikungunya [a virus carried by Asian tiger mosquito that causes fever, headache and joint pain]. There was an outbreak in Italy last summer.”
McMichael’s study does bring a disclaimer to mind for those who are skeptical about the spread of tropical infectious diseases to northern countries: Watch out Britain, maybe.
