Yellow fever and dengue cases surge in South America as climate crisis fuels health issues | Climate crisis

Rising cases of yellow fever and dengue fever in South America highlight the growing impact of the climate crisis on human health, with infectious diseases spread by mosquitoes and deadly heat now also penetrating temperate regions such as Europe, experts warned at a conference KS30 Climate summit.

There have been 356 cases of yellow fever and 152 deaths reported in South America this year, mostly in the Amazon region, according to the data. Data from the Pan American Health Organization. Apart from a large spike in 2017 and 2018, this is the highest number of yellow fever cases in any year on the continent except the first since 1960.

The current wave of yellow fever, which can cause fever, nausea and even organ failure, comes amid one of the worst years for dengue fever in Brazil's history. In 2024, there were about 6.5 million cases of dengue fever and about 5,000 deaths. reported in Brazil. Last year also marked an astonishing record year for dengue fever cases in the country. Europewith 304 cases reported, more than the 275 cases reported in the previous 15 years combined.

Both yellow fever and dengue fever are transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, which thrive in warm conditions and stagnant water. The climate crisis, which is causing global temperatures to rise and causing heavier rainfall, is exacerbating about half of known human pathogenic diseases. scientists have determinedas disease-carrying mosquitoes expand their range in a rapidly warming world.

The surge in transmitted diseases in the Amazon region comes as UN climate talks take place in Belém, a Brazilian city near the mouth of the Amazon River.

Until a few years ago, health was a largely overlooked climate crisis at these annual summits, but the UN declared Thursday “health day” at Cop30 and promoted a new plan to help countries cope with the raft of diseases and life-threatening conditions brought on by a hotter world.

“Across the world, people are realizing every day that the climate crisis is also a public health crisis,” said Simon Still, UN climate chief. “Rising temperatures, floods, droughts and hurricanes are taking lives, spreading disease and malnutrition, and putting enormous pressure on health systems.”

Still stated that the new Belem Health Action Planled by the Brazilian government and the World Health Organization, will help countries through surveillance, best practices and capacity building to help them cope with climate-related health challenges. A coalition of 35 philanthropic organizations has pledged $300 million to fund the initiative.

“Humanity can only win this global climate fight if we integrate stronger climate action with people's top priorities in their daily lives,” Still said. “And there are few higher priorities than our health.”

But climate advocates and health experts say much more will need to be done to cope with the effects of scorching temperatures and worsening disasters such as floods. Former US Vice President Al Gore said this on Wednesday. recent evidence The fact that one person is dying every minute around the world due to rising heat shows that governments are completely failing to contain the direct human cost of the climate crisis.

“How long are we going to stand by… keep cranking up the thermostat to allow events like this to get worse?” – said Horus.

Health experts said the spread of infectious diseases is being driven by several factors, such as deforestation for agriculture and housing, which brings people closer to animals that can spread zoonotic diseases.

“It's also globalization and the fact that mosquitoes are smart, just like bacteria,” said Maria Guevara, international medical secretary Médecins Sans Frontières or Médecins Sans Frontières attending a meeting in Belém.

“And whether it's bacteria or viruses, they transmit, it's just that in this case they're smarter than humans because they're more adaptable and adapt to survive. We're moving too slowly. We know what we need to do about climate change, but we're not doing anything.”

Guevara said much more would need to be done to arm countries experiencing disease outbreaks exacerbated by extreme weather. In recent years, MSF has had to respond to yellow fever outbreaks in Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo following severe droughts and floods. Vaccine distribution can be difficult even in countries like Brazil, where yellow fever shots are free.

“We have seen huge outbreaks of dengue and an increase in yellow fever even outside the Amazon region due to heavy rainfall and high temperatures, which causes mosquitoes to bite harder and affects the virus in mosquitoes,” said Rachel Vicente. expert at the Center for Health Sciences of the Brazilian Federal University of Espirito Santo.

“People also live near a lot of breeding sites, especially in urban areas of Brazil. It's a perfect storm and it's no longer a problem in tropical regions, we've had outbreaks in Europe because it's getting warmer there and it's easier for the vector.”

“We all need to collaborate more on sustainability because all countries will need to prepare for this now, not just some of them.”