Sunday, September 6, 2009

Dengue becoming unstoppable

Jenny F. Manongdo in the Manila Bulletin: The mosquito-borne disease dengue has become unstoppable due to climate change, according to global health experts who advised nations to institute more aggressive elimination drives to stem the disease that sickens over 50 million and kills 24,000 worldwide every year.

Cold temperature kills adult mosquitoes, including their larvae, limiting the population of dengue carrying mosquitoes. However, global warming has disrupted this natural procedure, resulting to increased mosquito populations and consequently of dengue worldwide. The World Health Organization said tropical countries like the Philippines are particularly at high risk.

A recent four-day symposium hosted by the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) in
Mandaluyong City brought together leading dengue experts including scientists that discussed the growing global presence of the disease as they struggle to find solutions, including vaccines to prevent its spread.

NITD is a Singapore-based nonprofit research facility devoted to finding medicines to treat “neglected” infectious diseases….

A 1905 print of the yellow fever or dengue mosquito Aedes aegypti (then called Stegomyia fasciata, today also Stegomyia aegypti). To the left, the male, in the middle and on the right, the female. Above left, a flying pair in copula.

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