generalspeaking

First Responders

Like the canary in the mine, animals in the wild are now being acknowledged as humanity's best alarm system to help us avoid the onset and global impact of deadly diseases which have been successful in altering their genetic structures and their traditional hunting grounds in response to environmental change. Scientists have isolated twelve dread diseases, naming them the 'deadly dozen', that have been steadily increasing their geographical presence and range.

Veterinary scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society have singled out Ebola, cholera, plague and sleeping sickness as making their appearance in non-traditional areas around the Earth as a result of climate change. And wildlife in those areas are positioned to warn us of the approach of those diseases. Monitoring the diseases' progress in reaching new territory and infecting unprotected animals, may turn out to be our best defence in saving millions of peoples' lives.

The unstoppable advent of climate change has had an impact on the ability of pathogens to spread into areas which were once armed against their presence through temperatures that would not permit the bacteria or viruses to thrive. Changes in patterns of rainfall and ambient temperatures have encouraged the steady migration and growth of disease-spreading pathogens, as reported in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's report, "The Deadly Dozen".

A wildlife monitoring system is being planned globally to assist in identifying disease signatures appearing in animal populations before they have the opportunity to spread to human populations. Networks of monitors have already begun their work as a pilot project which has been deemed to be successful. In the Republic of Congo, for example, hunters have been enrolled to report gorilla and chimpanzee sightings, animals that have died from identifiable disease outbreaks.

These alerts to authorities have been successful in enabling the prevention of human outbreaks by the simple expedient of ensuring that the carcases of those disease-riddled animals are not brought to villages where their consumption or other contact will result in human infection. Other similar initiatives in South America have succeeded in pulling together data on climate change and diseases like yellow fever. Where primates are seen to be infected, vaccination programs are being initiated.

The dozen identified diseases include cholera, Lyme disease and babesiosis, carried by ticks, and avian flu spread through bird migratory patterns reflecting climate change. Do we give much thought beyond an initial shudder, when we're confronted with the very real possibility that exotic, little-known and -understood diseases of a truly deadly nature that haunt the health of far-off countries may also make incursions in our own?

Lack of adequate hygiene and good farming practises all add to the onset of dread diseases in under-developed countries of the world. The problem is endemic, just as malaria, used as an example, devastates the populations of the world where malaria-carrying mosquitoes are ubiquitous. Simple remedies like the use of mosquito netting covering children at night, vaccination protocols, and awareness, can make a world of difference.

Perhaps we can be enabled to accomplish real inroads in helping poverty-stricken countries avail themselves of these remedies far more generously than we do at the present time, as a humane duty to be taken seriously, when we find ourselves beset by these problems because of our altered environment.

Labels: Environment, Nature, World Crises

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, October 08, 2008