http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/29164-the-threat-of-deadly-pathogens-is-on-the-rise-with-climate-change
[image and links in on-line article]
Threat of Deadly Pathogens on the Rise Thanks to Climate Change
Tuesday, 17 February 2015 15:42
By The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program | Op-Ed
Climate change is quickly becoming an infectious disease's best friend.
Yesterday, after six long months, students in Liberia returned to their
classrooms.
Schools across Liberia had been shut down since the height of the Ebola
outbreak in West Africa.
But, while schools may be reopened, they are taking plenty of precautions.
According to Slate, "Liberian officials said more than 5,000 health kits
with thermometers and chlorine for hand-washing, were distributed to
schools. Education officials are also emphasizing that class sizes
should be reduced - from the typical 100 to 40 or 50 students—to help
avoid close contact that allowed Ebola to rapidly spread."
More than 4,000 people have lost their lives because of Ebola in Liberia
alone.
Fortunately, there are just a small number of Ebola cases left in
Liberia today, and it appears that at least in Liberia, Ebola is under
control.
But, as West Africa slowly recovers from the Ebola outbreak, there are
new fears that infectious disease outbreaks like Ebola could become more
likely thanks to global warming and climate change.
A new study released this week and published in the journal
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B warns that a warming
planet and rapidly changing climate are increasing the appearance of
infectious diseases like Ebola.
According to Daniel Brooks, one of the researchers on the study, "It's
not that there's going to be one 'Andromeda Strain' that will wipe
everybody out on the planet. There are going to be a lot of localized
outbreaks putting pressure on medical and veterinary health systems. It
will be the death of a thousand cuts."
And, to make matters even worse, there's also the concern of unknown
infectious diseases popping up across the globe thanks to climate change.
For example, there are sure to be unknown bacteria and pathogens that
have been frozen in Arctic ice for thousands of years.
But, if that ice melts, and those never-before-seen pathogens get
released into the air, they could start new epidemics that we simply
wouldn't be able to fight because we've never had experience with them.
Last year, scientists were able to successfully "revive" a virus that
had been trapped in the Siberian tundra for tens of thousands of years.
According to the scientists, the virus, now known as Pithovirus
sibericum, was lying dormant in the Siberian tundra for around 30,000 years.
But, after thawing the virus out of the ice, the scientists discovered
that it hadn't lost its touch after its 30,000 year nap.
In fact, soon after the virus was thawed, it infected countless
single-cell organisms.
Now, just imagine if the thawing of Pithovirus sibericum hadn't happened
in a controlled laboratory, but instead happened in the wilderness of
Siberia.
There's a good chance that single-cell organisms wouldn't be the only
things it would be infecting.
And, as the researchers point out and as we just saw with Ebola, ancient
or deeply hidden viruses that were once common to one particular area or
one particular host can easily adapt to new environments.
Brooks said that, "Even though a parasite might have a very specialized
relationship with one particular host in one particular place, there are
other hosts that may be as susceptible. West Nile Virus is a good
example - no longer an acute problem for humans or wildlife in North
America, it nonetheless is here to stay."
Climate change and global warming are here to stay, but we have the
power to lessen their impacts on our planet.
More importantly, in this case, we have the power - through radically
reducing our use of fossil fuels and amping up our use of sun, wind, and
other renewable power forms - to prevent future global-warming-driven
outbreaks of infectious diseases that could claim the lives of millions
and millions of people across the globe.
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