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☆ Dengue cases top 5.2 million in the Americas as outbreak passes yearly record, PAHO says
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Michael Rios | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Dengue cases are surging in the Americas, with cases reported topping 5.2 million as of this week, surpassing a yearly record set in 2023, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). PAHO spokesperson Ashley Baldwin told CNN Thursday that 5,214,480 cases of dengue have been reported in the Americas as of Wednesday. In all of 2023, the total number of cases reported in the region was 4,572,765. “We are in an emergency situation because of dengue,” PAHO Director Jarbas Barbosa said in a news briefing Thursday. Early detection and access to proper medical care will reduce the probability of dying due to severe dengue,” Baldwin added.

Persons: PAHO, Ashley Baldwin, ”, Jarbas Barbosa, ” Baldwin, Barbosa, Agustin Marcarian, Eraldo Peres, Baldwin Organizations: CNN, Pan American Health Organization, Reuters Public, AP, US Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, World Health Organization, Virgin Islands Locations: Americas, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Peru, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Ceilandia, Brasilia, Puerto Rico, Virgin, American Samoa

☆ Puerto Rico declares public health emergency as dengue cases surge
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Rafy Rivera | Amanda Musa | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Puerto Rico has declared a public health emergency due to a surging number of dengue cases. Puerto Rico Secretary of Heath Carlos Mellado said the health department has registered 549 cases of dengue so far this year, far exceeding historical numbers. Health officials in Puerto Rico are urging people to use insect repellent and eliminate possible mosquito breeding sites by preventing water from accumulating. Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team. “There are indeed efforts from the health department and other organizations like the Puerto Rico vector control unit to control dengue in the area.”Climate change will also encourage the spread of dengue around the world, Paz-Bailey said.

Persons: Heath Carlos Mellado, ” Mellado, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, Gabriela Paz, Bailey, ” Paz, ”, Jamie Gumbrecht Organizations: CNN — Puerto, World Health Organization —, Virgin Islands, US Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, Health, Get CNN, CNN Health, Vector, CNN, Paz Locations: CNN — Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico, Virgin, American Samoa, United States, Florida

☆ How a new surveillance method is identifying more cases of Lyme disease in the US
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

But this sharp increase “likely reflects changes in surveillance methods rather than change in disease risk,” according to the CDC. The vast majority of Lyme disease cases in the US are reported from just over a dozen jurisdictions in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and upper-Midwest where ticks are particularly prevalent. Despite the significant spike, the number Lyme disease cases that are reported to the CDC is just a fraction of the estimated number of total cases. There are about 476,000 estimated diagnoses of Lyme disease in the US each year – nearly eight times more than even the improved surveillance methods captured in 2022. Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the US, along with Zika virus, West Nile virus, dengue, malaria, plague, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and alpha-gal syndrome.

Persons: Lyme, –, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, ” Organizations: CNN, US Centers for Disease Control, CDC, of State, Territorial, Get CNN, CNN Health, US Department of Health, Human Services, HHS Locations: United States, Northeast, Lyme

CNN —The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, has declared a state of public health emergency due to a dengue epidemic, according to CNN affiliate CNN Brasil. The surge in dengue cases comes as Rio and the rest of the country gear up for carnival celebrations where millions of people pour onto the streets for parades and block parties. In January alone, Rio’s city health network had 362 people hospitalized due to dengue, a record number, topping the previous high from 2008, CNN Brasil reported. According to data from the Rio de Janeiro City Council’s Epidemiological Observatory panel, 11,202 cases have already been registered in 2024. The Municipal Health Department is planning to vaccinate children as soon as the vaccines are released by the Ministry of Health, CNN Brasil reported.

Persons: Eduardo Paes, Daniel Soranz, Rio Organizations: CNN, CNN Brasil, US Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, CDC, Rio’s Municipal Health, Municipal Health Department, Ministry of Health Locations: Rio de Janeiro, Rio, Rio’s

☆ Oldest mosquito fossil comes with a bloodsucking surprise
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Dany Azar/Handout via REUTERS Acquire Licensing RightsWASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide are killed annually by malaria and other diseases spread through the bite of mosquitoes, insects that date back to the age of dinosaurs. To their surprise, the male mosquitoes possessed elongated piercing-sucking mouthparts seen now only in females. Some flying insects - tsetse flies, for instance - have hematophagous males. "In all hematophagous insects, we believe that hematophagy was a shift from plant liquid sucking to bloodsucking," Azar said. The researchers said while these are the oldest fossils, mosquitoes probably originated millions of years earlier.

Persons: Dany Azar, Handout, " Azar, Azar, André Nel, hematophagy, Nel, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: REUTERS Acquire, Rights, Chinese Academy of Sciences ' Nanjing Institute of Geology, Lebanese University, National Museum of, World Health Organization, Thomson Locations: Lebanon, Hammana, Paris

These are just a few of the ways that public health has been impacted and compounded by climate change - a focus for the first time ever at the annual U.N. climate summit COP28. Here's how climate change is harming people's health across the world today, and what countries might expect in the future. Floods in Pakistan last year, for example, led to a 400%increase in malaria cases in the country, the report said. MURKY WATERSStorms and flooding wrought by climate change are allowing other infectious water-borne diseases to proliferate as well. Diarrhoea, too, receives a boost from climate change, with increasingly erratic rainfall - resulting in either wet or dry conditions - yielding a higher risk, research has found.

Persons: Alexandros Avramidis, Martin Edlund, Gloria Dickie, Alexander Cornwall, Katy Daigle, Diane Craft Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, World Health Organization, WHO, Nature Medicine, American Thoracic Society, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Evros, Greece, West Nile, Brazil, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Africa, United States

☆ An island vacation with no mosquito bites – and no chemicals, either
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Regan Stephens | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Soneva Fushi, a resort on the private Kunfunadhoo Island in the Maldives, has spent years working to eradicate these pests. Soneva has partnered with the Germany-based company Biogents, which has developed mosquito traps that rely on environmentally friendly attractants. A Biogents-created mosquito trap at Soneva Fushi Courtesy Soneva FushiWhat’s more, these techniques are typically only useful for eliminating adult mosquitoes. An overwater bungalow at Soneva Fushi Sandro Bruecklmeier/Courtesy Soneva FushiThe pest-combatting program has been a success, according to Soneva. The resort chain has gifted mosquito traps to Parliament in Malé, the country’s capital, and trained staffers on how to use them.

Persons: Soneva, “, ”, Arnfinn Oines, Oines, Fushi Sandro Bruecklmeier, Fushi, Sonu, Eva Shivdasani, Soneva Jani Organizations: CNN Locations: Maldives, Germany, GAT, Kunfunadhoo, Malé, Medhufaru, Noonu

☆ Bangladesh dengue: More than 1,000 people killed in country's worst outbreak on record
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Fatalities from the outbreak are almost four times higher than last year, when 281 people died. In September alone, there were more than 79,600 reported cases and 396 deaths, according to Bangladesh health authorities. Last year, dengue cases only peaked in October with most deaths recorded in November. The global number of dengue cases has already increased eight-fold in the past two decades, according to WHO. This year, dengue has hit South America severely with Peru battling its worst outbreak on record.

Persons: Munir Uz Zaman, Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “, ”, Abdi Mahamud Organizations: CNN, Health Services, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, Getty, World Health Organization, WHO, Dhaka –, UN, South America Locations: Bangladesh, Dhaka, AFP, Peru, Florida, Asia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Africa, Chad

The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded Monday to two scientists whose work led to the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. As countries prepared to roll out those shots, The Associated Press took a look at how the vaccines were developed so quickly. ___How could scientists race out COVID-19 vaccines so fast without cutting corners? A head start helped -- over a decade of behind-the-scenes research that had new vaccine technology poised for a challenge just as the coronavirus erupted. Both shots — one made by Pfizer and BioNTech, the other by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health — are so-called messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines, a brand-new technology.

Persons: Dr, Anthony Fauci, Buddy Creech, ” Creech, Tal Zaks, ”, Drew Weissman, Weissman, Katalin, Philip Dormitzer, Barney Graham’s, ” Fauci, Graham, Jason McLellan, hadn't, “, ” Graham, Germany’s, Pfizer’s Dormitzer, Ugur Sahin Organizations: Medicine, COVID, Associated Press, Vanderbilt University, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, National Institutes of Health, NIH, University of Pennsylvania, Penn, NIH’s Vaccine Research Center, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education, AP Locations: U.S, Massachusetts, BioNTech, New York, China

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh is struggling with a record outbreak of dengue fever, with experts saying a lack of a coordinated response is causing more deaths from the mosquito-transmitted disease. So far this year, 778 people in Bangladesh have died and 157,172 have been infected, according to the government’s Directorate General Health Services. The previous highest number of deaths was in 2022, when 281 people are reported to have died during the entire year. Outside Dhaka and other big cities, medical professionals including nurses need better training in handling dengue cases, he said. If the city corporation or ward commissioner took more care and sprayed insecticides, then we could have avoided the dengue outbreak,” he said.

Persons: Mohammed Niatuzzaman, ”, Zakir Hassain Organizations: —, World Health Organization, government’s, General Health Services, Mugda Medical College Hospital Locations: DHAKA, Bangladesh, — Bangladesh, Dhaka, Dhaka’s

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — For decades, preventing dengue fever in Honduras has meant teaching people to fear mosquitoes and avoid their bites. Enriquez, a 52-year-old mason, had volunteered to help publicize a plan to suppress dengue by releasing millions of special mosquitoes in the Honduran capital. The Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that most commonly spread dengue have been resistant to insecticides, which have fleeting results even in the best-case scenario. SCIENTISTS SURPRISED BY BACTERIAThe Wolbachia strategy has been decades in the making. But along the way, O’Neill’s team made a surprising discovery: Mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia didn’t spread dengue — or other related diseases, including yellow fever, Zika and chikungunya.

Persons: they’ve, Hector Enriquez, Enriquez, ”, Scott O’Neill, Conor McMeniman, McMeniman, haven’t, Raman Velayudhan, Velayudhan, O’Neill, Oliver Brady, ” Brady, Bobby Reiner, “ It’s, ” Reiner, Edgard Boquín, Marlene Salazar, María Fernanda Marín, Lourdes Betancourt, Betancourt –, ” Betancourt, “, ___ Burakoff, Marko Álvarez, — Organizations: Mosquito Program, World Health Organization, Johns Hopkins University, WHO, London School of Hygiene, Mosquito, University of Washington, Workers, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Honduran, El, Australia, ”, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Fiji, Vietnam, Indonesia, COLOMBIA, Medellín, HONDURAS, Medellin, Northern Tegucigalpa, New York City

☆ Mosquitoes are annoying and some are deadly. Here’s why we can’t – and shouldn’t – simply kill them all
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Ritu Prasad | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Some mosquitoes are actually helpfulThe first problem to tackle here is the word “all.” There are more than 3,000 recognized mosquito species worldwide. Healy, who is also president of the American Mosquito Control Association, offered Louisiana, which is home to many swamps where mosquitoes thrive, as an example. “Disease-transmitting mosquito species, such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, are invasive species in many parts of the world. As for the Anopheles mosquitoes, which transmit malaria, things are a little different. … We are constantly educating mosquito control workers to follow these practices.

Persons: birdsong, We’ve, ”, Kristen Healy, Healy, we’d, Laura Harrington, Culex, Aedes, ” John Marshall, ” Marshall, ” Healy, Soumyabrata Roy, NurPhoto, it’s, Harrington, Wolbachia, ” Harrington, Stefan Sauer, “ We’ve Organizations: CNN, US Centers for Disease Control, Entomology, Louisiana State University, American Mosquito Control Association, Cornell University, University of California, Getty Locations: –, West Nile, Louisiana, West, Berkeley

☆ Bangladesh’s worst ever dengue outbreak a ‘canary in the coal mine’ for climate crisis, WHO expert warns
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Dengue-infected people are treated at the Mugda Medical College and Hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 7. The global number of dengue cases has already increased eight-fold in the past two decades, according to WHO. As the climate crisis worsens, mosquito-borne diseases like dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever will likely continue to spread and have an ever greater impact on human health. Mahamud said the climate crisis and this year’s El Nino weather pattern – which brings warmer, wetter weather to parts of the world – are worsening the problem. Calling these outbreaks a “canary in the coalmine of the climate crisis,” Mahamud said “global solidarity” and support is needed to deal with the worsening epidemic.

Persons: Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Tedros, “, ”, Mohammad Ponir Hossain, ” Tedros, ” Kabirul Bashar, Raman Velayudhan, Abdi Mahamud, Mahamud, ” Mahamud Organizations: CNN, World Health Organization, WHO, Mugda Medical College, Hospital, Reuters, Dhaka –, ” WHO, “, South America Locations: Bangladesh, El Nino, Dhaka, Nino, Peru, Florida, Asia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Africa, Chad

☆ Invasive species cost the global economy over $423 billion annually, according to a new report from the United Nations
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Lindsey Jacobson | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

NY State Department of Agriculture is encouraging residents to kill the invasive spotted lanternfly. The annual cost of invasive alien species now exceeds $423 billion annually, according to a new report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, an organization that is a part of the United Nations. The report claims over 37,000 so-called alien species have been transported due to human activities around the world. Invasive alien species, as defined by the report, are species that are known to "have become established and spread, which cause negative impacts on nature and often also on people." The costs of invasive species have quadrupled every decade since 1970, according to the report.

Persons: Martin Nuñez Organizations: NY State Department of Agriculture, Services, United Nations Locations: New York City, United States, West, New York, China

☆ Invasive species cost the world $423 billion every year and are causing environmental chaos, UN report finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Scroll through the gallery to see more of the planet's most problematic invasive species. Sarefo / Wikimedia Commons In pictures: Invasive species around the world Prev Next‘Prevention, prevention, prevention’Along with invasive species, other key drivers of biodiversity loss include destruction of land and sea habitats, exploitation of organisms, climate change and pollution. As well as flammable invasive plants sparking and spreading wildfires, climate change is enabling invasive species to move north – even to remote areas such as high mountains, deserts and frozen tundra. Preventing the arrival of new species into new regions is the best way to manage threats from invasive species, according to the report. For invasive species that have already taken hold, eradication has been a useful tool, especially on islands, according to the report.

Persons: ”, Helen Roy, ” Roy, David Gray, Peter Stoett, Anibal Pauchard, Ian Hitchcock, Starling, MENAHEM KAHANA, Phil Mislinski, Jeff J Mitchell, SANJAY KANOJIA, MUNIR UZ ZAMAN, ” Stoett, Stoett, –, ” Pauchard Organizations: CNN, United Nations, UN, Services, billabong, Nile Virus, Ontario Tech University, Chile’s Institute of Ecology, Pacific, World Wildlife Fund, US Department of Agriculture, USA, Studies, New Zealand Government, European, Starlings, AFP, Getty, North, Wikimedia Locations: Darwin, Australia, Africa, Caribbean, Guam, North America, Hawaii, Maui, Antarctica, Pacific, North, South America, Azov, China, Japan, Europe, Bermuda, New Zealand, New York, USA, Australasia, South Africa, United States, AFP, East Africa, Western Asia, Americas, Kenya, India, Puerto Rico, Kunming, Montreal

Warmer temperatures under climate change are expected to further drive the expansion of invasive species. Invasive species are plants or animals, often moved around by human activity, that take hold in an environment with deleterious effects. ERADICATING INVADERSAbout three-quarters of the negative impacts from invasive species occur on land, especially in forests, woodlands, and farmed areas. Getting rid of invasive species once they are established, however, is difficult. Last December, the world's governments committed in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to reducing the introduction and establishment of priority invasive species by at least 50 percent by 2030.

Persons: Graeme Sawyer, David Gray, Helen Roy, Anibal Pauchard, Roy, Gloria Dickie, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Northern Territory, billabong, REUTERS, United Nations Intergovernmental, Services, Chile's Institute of Ecology, Thomson Locations: Darwin, Hawaii, Africa, West Nile, New Zealand, Kunming, Montreal, London

☆ The US eliminated malaria in 1951. How can it keep it under control now?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Meg Tirrell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

“The risk is very low,” Dr. Peter McElroy, chief of the malaria branch in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, told CNN. In an effort to limit its impact in the southeastern US during World War II, particularly around military training bases, the US created the Office of Malaria Control in War Areas in 1942. The April 1945 edition of the Malaria Control in War Areas field bulletin. Malaria was eliminated in the United States in 1951, but modern mosquito control is mostly managed locally. Oxitec also says it’s working on applying the approach to anopheles mosquitoes for malaria control as well.

Persons: ”, Janneth Rodrigues, Rodrigues, tsuruhatensis, National Institutes of Health’s Dr, Carolina, Dr, Peter McElroy ,, haven’t, McElroy, Wade Brennan, Chandan Khanna, “, ” McElroy, Daniel Markowski, ” Markowski, They’re, Markowski, Mury, Sanjay Gupta, Aedes, Oxitec, “ We’ve Organizations: CNN, GSK, Malaria, National Institutes of Health’s, of Malaria, Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy, US Centers for Disease Control, Prevention’s, Sarasota County Mosquito Management, of Malaria Control, CDC, American Mosquito Control Association, Public Health Service, National Library of Medicine, Getty, “, CNN Health, Google Locations: Tres Cantos, Madrid, Burkina Faso, Africa, United States, Sarasota, Sarasota , Florida, Atlanta, Sarasota County , Florida, Palm Beach County , Florida, Florida, New Jersey

☆ Fact Check-No proof of ‘deadly mosquitoes’ at AFRAM in Baltimore
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

AFRAM, an annual cultural festival celebrating Black excellence, was held over Juneteenth weekend at Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, Maryland (here), (aframbaltimore.com/about-afram). Weeks later, Instagram posts shared a clip from the festival that shows attendees swatting and fanning themselves and includes the text: “Helicopter released deadly mosquitoes in Baltimore, MD AFRAM 2023” (here). In other posts from the event, however, users say the flying bugs were gnats, not mosquitoes (here), (here). MALE MOSQUITOES SWARM, DON’T BITEMale mosquitoes swarm to mate but don’t bite, and the swarming flies in social media posts do not look like mosquitoes, said George Dimopoulos, a deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute (here). Social media clips of a Baltimore festival do not show “deadly mosquitoes,” entomology and health experts said.

Persons: Weeks, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Michael Raupp, gnats, Raup, Brian Federici, midge, ”, George Dimopoulos, Johns, Laura Harrington, “, Arinze Ifekauche, Dimopoulos, Read Organizations: Baltimore, Helicopter, Baltimore Mayor, University of Maryland, University of California, Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Cornell University, Health Department, Maryland Department of Agriculture, Reuters Locations: Maryland, Baltimore City, Druid, Baltimore , Maryland, Baltimore, Riverside

☆ Fact Check-U.S. malaria outbreak in 2023 not caused by GM mosquitos
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The release of genetically modified mosquitos in Florida and Texas could not have caused recent cases of malaria detected in the U.S., as suggested in social media posts. The OX5034 mosquitos developed by Oxitec were approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2020 for pilot testing (here). Markowski noted that only female mosquitos “blood feed,” which needs to happen to transmit diseases like malaria, and the only genetically modified mosquitos being released are males, which feed only on plant juices and therefore cannot transmit malaria (explained further here). Reuters has previously addressed misinformation about uses of genetically modified mosquitos (here), (here) and (here). Recent cases of malaria in the U.S. could not have been caused by the release of genetically modified mosquitos.

Persons: they’re, mosquitos, Daniel Markowski, Markowski, Read Organizations: Oxitec, U.S . Environmental Protection Agency, Reuters, U.S . Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, CDC, American Mosquito Control Association Locations: Florida, Texas, U.S, BioNTech, Florida and Texas, Saharan Africa, South Asia

☆ Fact Check-U.S. malaria outbreak in 2023 not caused by GM mosquitoes
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

(This story was corrected on July 27, 2023, to clarify that genetically modified mosquitoes were not released in Texas. The modified mosquitoes, which were released only in Florida, were all male, and only female mosquitoes feed on blood, which is how they transmit the malaria parasite from person to person, a mosquito-control expert said. Moreover, Markowski noted, only female mosquitoes “blood feed,” which needs to happen to transmit diseases like malaria, and the only genetically modified mosquitoes released are males, which feed only on plant juices and therefore cannot transmit malaria (explained further here). Reuters has previously addressed misinformation about uses of genetically modified mosquitoes (here), (here) and (here). Recent cases of malaria in the U.S. could not have been caused by the release of genetically modified mosquitoes.

Persons: they’re, Aedes aegypti, Daniel Markowski, Markowski, Oxitec, Joshua Van Raalte, “ Oxitec, Read Organizations: Oxitec, U.S . Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Reuters, U.S . Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, CDC, American Mosquito Control Association Locations: Texas, Florida, Harris County , Texas, U.S, BioNTech, Florida and Texas, Saharan Africa, South Asia

☆ Temperatures seen surging as El Nino weather pattern returns
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

El Nino, a warming of water surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean, is linked to extreme weather conditions from tropical cyclones to heavy rainfall to severe droughts. The world's hottest year on record, 2016, coincided with a strong El Nino - though experts says climate change has fuelled extreme temperatures even in years without the phenomenon. The World Health Organization said last month it was preparing for an increased spread of viral diseases such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya linked to El Nino. During El Nino, winds blowing west along the equator slow down, and warm water is pushed east, creating warmer surface ocean temperatures. In the past, it has caused severe droughts in Australia, Indonesia, parts of southern Asia, Central America and northern South America.

Persons: El, Maria Neira, Gabrielle Tétrault, Farber, Andrew Heavens, Alex Richardson, Christina Fincher Organizations: WHO, El, World Meteorological Organization, El Nino, WMO, Prediction Service, World Health Organization, Environment, Health, Thomson Locations: GENEVA, Pacific, Geneva, South America, United States, of Africa, Central Asia, Australia, Indonesia, Asia, Central America

☆ The mosquito era: As the world warms, these insects are thriving – and bringing disease
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

James Gathany/CDC/Handout/ReutersWhile serious mosquito-borne diseases remain rare in the US, other countries are not so lucky. While scientists are yet to assess the role climate change has played in the outbreak, Carlson said the links seem clear. But the shift of mosquito-borne diseases into regions like the US and Europe is still likely to be a shock. Scientists are working to develop tools to be able to better assess the link between mosquito-borne diseases and climate change. The path the world takes on reducing planet-heating pollution will lead to very different futures for mosquito-borne diseases, Brady said.

Persons: it’s, Edgar Su, ”, Oliver Brady, –, James Gathany, Colin Carlson, Carlson, I’m, Ernesto Benavides, Celine Gossner, ” Brady, “, Shannon LaDeau, they’ve, ” LaDeau, Jon Cherry, Gossner, Brady Organizations: CNN, US Centers for Disease Control, London School of Hygiene, Medicine, Climate Central, Georgetown University, Getty, European Centre for Disease Prevention, Carey Institute of Ecosystems Studies, Louisville Metro Department of Health, Wellness Locations: United States, Singapore, zika, West, Saharan Africa, Peru, Piura, AFP, Europe, “, Western Europe, China, Texas , Florida, Hawaii, Arizona, India, Louisville , Kentucky, Florida

There were 71 cases of the disease - which generally causes fever and muscle pain but can be more severe and even sometimes fatal - last year, mainly in France. The health agency warned at a press conference on Thursday there is an increasing risk of a number of mosquito-borne diseases in the European region, including dengue, zika, chikungunya and West Nile virus, linked to the changing climate and the spread of mosquitoes carrying the viruses. “If this continues, we can expect to see more cases and possibly deaths from diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and West Nile fever," said Andrea Ammon, ECDC director. Aedes aegypti, which spreads diseases including dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya, became established in Cyprus last year and could make further inroads, it said. While the rates of some mosquito-borne diseases in Europe have not risen dramatically in recent years or even fallen slightly, such as malaria and zika, others have seen a "striking" rise, particularly dengue, the ECDC said.

Persons: Andrea Ammon, Aedes, Jennifer Rigby, Jane Merriman Organizations: European Centre for Disease Prevention, World Health Organization, El, Thomson Locations: Europe, France, chikungunya, West, Cyprus, Peru, El Nino

☆ A body odor buffet reveals which scents attract mosquitoes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Kate Golembiewski | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Anyone who has spent a summer evening swatting away mosquitoes, or a summer day scratching mosquito bites, can agree: Mosquitoes stink. In a scientific report published Friday, scientists helped pinpoint the different chemicals in body odor that attract these insects by building an ice-rink size testing arena and pumping in the scents of different people. Hundreds of mosquitoes in the main 20-by-20-meter facility were then treated to a buffet of the sleeping subjects’ scents. The researchers found what many who have been on a picnic would attest to: Some people attract more mosquitoes than others. (Vosshall said that even scrubbing with unscented soap doesn’t get rid of the natural scents that attract mosquitoes.)

☆ Are You a Mosquito Magnet? Check Your Soap.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Dominique Mosbergen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Of the thousands of mosquito species, only a handful are specialized to target humans. Photo: James Gathany/Associated PressYour soap could be making you seem tastier to bloodsucking mosquitoes. Washing with certain brands of soaps made some people more attractive to a species of mosquito that spreads yellow fever, Zika, dengue and chikungunya viruses in a study published Wednesday in the journal iScience. One soap, Native Coconut & Vanilla Body Wash, made people less attractive to mosquitoes, the study said.

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