SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Soaring Number of West Nile Virus Cases Set to Increase with Climate Change
Aug 22, 2012
The U.S. is on track to suffer its worst West Nile Virus epidemic in years, the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) stated Wednesday.
And with climate change, we can expect an increasing number of this and other mosquito-borne diseases like yellow fever, malaria and dengue fever.
The CDC says that people have been infected with West Nile Virus in 38 states this year. At 1100 cases, it's three times as many as usual. 26 deaths have been attributed to the virus this year. Texas has been the hardest hit, being the site of almost half of all the cases this year, and has unleashed an aeriel pesticide spraying program in an effort to combat the spread of the disease.
"We're in the midst of one of the largest West Nile outbreaks ever seen in the United States," said Dr. Lyle Petersen, the director of the CDC's Vector-Borne Infectious Disease Division official.
"The peak of West Nile virus epidemics usually occurs in mid-August, but it takes a couple of weeks for people to get sick, go to the doctor and get reported," added Petersen. "Thus we expect many more cases to occur."
The West Nile Virus infection rate is just going to get worse, a public health expert says. As climate change brings warmer winters and hotter summers, David Dausey, a professor of public health at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa., says it will "create a longer season for mosquitoes to breed and ideal conditions for them to survive."
As Bryan Walsh wrote in Time Tuesday, we won't just be battling West Nile Virus either. "[T]hanks to climate change, this isn't likely to be the last time a disease we'd usually associate with the tropics makes its way into the U.S. The mosquito-borne dengue fever, which is endemic in much of the tropics, has been reported in south Texas, as well as the Florida Keys. The first U.S. case of Chagas disease, a deadly Latin American infection transmitted by a cockroach-like bug that can feed on human blood, was reported last month. As the climate continues to warm worldwide, the zone of risk for all these diseases and even malaria could continue to expand."
* * *
See the CDC's factsheet on West Nile Virus.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The U.S. is on track to suffer its worst West Nile Virus epidemic in years, the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) stated Wednesday.
And with climate change, we can expect an increasing number of this and other mosquito-borne diseases like yellow fever, malaria and dengue fever.
The CDC says that people have been infected with West Nile Virus in 38 states this year. At 1100 cases, it's three times as many as usual. 26 deaths have been attributed to the virus this year. Texas has been the hardest hit, being the site of almost half of all the cases this year, and has unleashed an aeriel pesticide spraying program in an effort to combat the spread of the disease.
"We're in the midst of one of the largest West Nile outbreaks ever seen in the United States," said Dr. Lyle Petersen, the director of the CDC's Vector-Borne Infectious Disease Division official.
"The peak of West Nile virus epidemics usually occurs in mid-August, but it takes a couple of weeks for people to get sick, go to the doctor and get reported," added Petersen. "Thus we expect many more cases to occur."
The West Nile Virus infection rate is just going to get worse, a public health expert says. As climate change brings warmer winters and hotter summers, David Dausey, a professor of public health at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa., says it will "create a longer season for mosquitoes to breed and ideal conditions for them to survive."
As Bryan Walsh wrote in Time Tuesday, we won't just be battling West Nile Virus either. "[T]hanks to climate change, this isn't likely to be the last time a disease we'd usually associate with the tropics makes its way into the U.S. The mosquito-borne dengue fever, which is endemic in much of the tropics, has been reported in south Texas, as well as the Florida Keys. The first U.S. case of Chagas disease, a deadly Latin American infection transmitted by a cockroach-like bug that can feed on human blood, was reported last month. As the climate continues to warm worldwide, the zone of risk for all these diseases and even malaria could continue to expand."
* * *
See the CDC's factsheet on West Nile Virus.
The U.S. is on track to suffer its worst West Nile Virus epidemic in years, the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) stated Wednesday.
And with climate change, we can expect an increasing number of this and other mosquito-borne diseases like yellow fever, malaria and dengue fever.
The CDC says that people have been infected with West Nile Virus in 38 states this year. At 1100 cases, it's three times as many as usual. 26 deaths have been attributed to the virus this year. Texas has been the hardest hit, being the site of almost half of all the cases this year, and has unleashed an aeriel pesticide spraying program in an effort to combat the spread of the disease.
"We're in the midst of one of the largest West Nile outbreaks ever seen in the United States," said Dr. Lyle Petersen, the director of the CDC's Vector-Borne Infectious Disease Division official.
"The peak of West Nile virus epidemics usually occurs in mid-August, but it takes a couple of weeks for people to get sick, go to the doctor and get reported," added Petersen. "Thus we expect many more cases to occur."
The West Nile Virus infection rate is just going to get worse, a public health expert says. As climate change brings warmer winters and hotter summers, David Dausey, a professor of public health at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa., says it will "create a longer season for mosquitoes to breed and ideal conditions for them to survive."
As Bryan Walsh wrote in Time Tuesday, we won't just be battling West Nile Virus either. "[T]hanks to climate change, this isn't likely to be the last time a disease we'd usually associate with the tropics makes its way into the U.S. The mosquito-borne dengue fever, which is endemic in much of the tropics, has been reported in south Texas, as well as the Florida Keys. The first U.S. case of Chagas disease, a deadly Latin American infection transmitted by a cockroach-like bug that can feed on human blood, was reported last month. As the climate continues to warm worldwide, the zone of risk for all these diseases and even malaria could continue to expand."
* * *
See the CDC's factsheet on West Nile Virus.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.