Aug 17, 2020 15:00:00

Global warming could cause an 'infectious disease epidemic'

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Global warming ” is a major threat to humankind, and each country and large companies are working to reduce the amount of fossil fuel used. The effects of global warming include rising sea levels, frequent abnormal climates such as heat waves, and the expansion of deserts, but experts point out that the 'epidemic of infectious diseases' should also be mentioned. ..

How climate change could expose new epidemics
https://phys.org/news/2020-08-climate-expose-epidemics.html

It has been pointed out that not only will the sea level rise by the melting of permafrost due to global warming, but also greenhouse gases contained in permafrost will be released and global warming will accelerate.

Research results that the impact of permafrost on the global environment is ``double the estimate so far''-GIGAZINE

In addition to these problems, Birgitta Evenguard, who studies clinical microbiology at the University of Umeå in Sweden, and Professor Vladimir Romanovsky of the Department of Geophysics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the United States, are hidden in permafrost. I point out that 'microorganisms' is also a problem. ``Microorganisms can survive in the frozen space for a long period of time,'' said Professor Romanovsky, who has been trapped in ice for thousands of years as global warming melts permafrost. Pointed out that fine particles, organic matter, and pathogenic bacteria will be released. He cited the possibility that ancient microorganisms will be reborn in the present age.

The lab of Jean-Michel Clavry, who received the title of Professor Emeritus from the University of Aix-Marseille in France, has succeeded in an experiment to recover a virus of about 30,000 years ago from Siberian soil, Mr. Clavry said. It mentions the possibility that smallpox , eradicated from the world in 1980, will recover from the bodies of the victims buried in Siberia in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 2016, one child died from anthrax, which is believed to have been released from animal carcasses excavated from Siberian permafrost. Death cases due to anthrax for the first time in 75 years have occurred in the same area.

In addition to the fear of restoring ancient viruses, global warming also has the danger of spreading modern viruses. Mosquitoes, which are typical creatures that carry viruses, are temperate creatures. Jeanne Faire, who studies biosecurity and public health at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States, said that temperate regions are expanding due to global warming, mosquito habitats are extending to the north, and breeding periods are becoming longer. I am told. Tiger mosquito and Aedes aegypti, which are mosquitoes that transmit dengue fever , have recently come to inhabit Europe, and about 40 cases of dengue fever have been confirmed between 2010 and 2019.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), if climate change continues at the current pace, by 2050 there will be up to 5 billion people living in areas affected by mosquito-borne malaria. Pointed out that there is a possibility. It shows the prospect of expanding malaria-affected areas.