Climate Change may Impact Future Outbreaks of Tularemia

Climatic changes may affect future tularemia outbreaks and other infectious diseases in high-latitude and other world regions, reveals a new study.

New study developed a method for statistically predicting impacts of climate change on tularemia outbreaks in humans. The findings of the study are published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

As the average annual temperature rises in high-latitude regions, rain and snow magnitudes and the flow of water through the landscape also change. These changes affect living conditions, for example, for insects that may be carriers of various diseases.

Rabbit Fever: The Secrets Unveiled
Just like antharax and small pox, rabbit fever, aka tularemia, which in endemic in the United States, may be a risk to biosecurity as it has already been weaponized in different regions of the world

‘Tularemia may become increasingly more common in the future in high-latitude regions. ’
Read More..

Researchers at the Department of Physical Geography at Stockholm University have studied the effect of such changes on tularemia, a disease that primarily affects small rodents but can also infect humans. The study shows that relatively small changes in climate and water conditions can sharply increase the incidence of tularemia in humans.

The results are consistent with the increasing number of reported human cases of tularemia in Sweden.

"Tularemia is fatal to rodents and serious disease in humans," says Gia Destouni, a researcher at Stockholm University. "We have used a tested statistical disease model that has, for example, be able to predict six out of seven years with a relatively large number of tularemia cases in humans in Dalarna County between 1981 and 2007. This type of tested statistical disease model is a valuable tool that enables us to predict outbreaks in the future under altered climatic and water conditions."

Francisella tularensis Infections Not Transmitted through Food Chain in Germany
BfR (German Federal Institute of Risk Assessment) has come to the conclusion that the transmission of F. tularensis through the food chain is unlikely in Germany.

Tularemia spreads to people in various ways. In the vast forested areas of Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Alaska, a bite from mosquitoes carrying the bacteria that cause the disease is one common path of infection.

"Northern communities and ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to climate change, which is greater here than the global average," says Gia Destouni.

Trapping Female Mosquitoes can Protect You From Chikungunya Virus
Trapping female mosquitoes using an Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap (AGO trap) can protect you and your family from chikungunya virus, reveals a new study.

"For this study, we chose to look at tularemia because it is a well-studied disease with tested statistics on the spread of the disease to humans at these latitudes. We were then able to use tularemia as a model disease for the development of a new methodology for predicting how changed temperatures and water flows can lead to new circumstances for the spread of the disease to humans in northern communities. In future research, a similar methodology can be used for similar studies of the effects of climate change on different infectious diseases and in different parts of the world."

Source-Eurekalert

Mosquito Bites Might Be Prevented Using Graphene-Lined Clothing
Mosquito bites could now be prevented using clothes made up of the nanomaterial graphene, which is also an active material in solar cells to tennis rackets.