Five people in Australia have died in the past year from being infected with melioidosis, which is caused by a bacterium called Burkholderia pseudomallei that can be found in soil or water in tropical regions. Experts worry that increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events could lead to it spreading in the United States, the New York Post reported.
What's happening?
B. pseudomallei is mostly found in tropical climates. In the United States, it has shown up in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Gulf Coast area of Mississippi.
After extreme weather events such as hurricanes or heavy rainstorms, the bacteria can be brought up to the surface, leading to an increase in cases of melioidosis, a lung infection that can result in pneumonia or sepsis and is frequently lethal.
That is exactly what has happened in Australia and what experts fear may happen in the United States, too, as these types of extreme weather events become more common due to the ongoing overheating of our planet and the changes to our climate that it has wrought.
"The most serious way that people can get it is when there's severe weather events, such as monsoonal storms, and in particular, when there are tropical cyclones with wind and rain the bacteria are aerosolized and people can then breathe it in," said Bart Currie, a professor of medicine at the Menzies School of Health Research, to Yahoo News.
Why is the link between diseases and planetary overheating important?
Melioidosis is only one of the diseases reportedly on the rise due to the effects that planetary overheating is having on global climates.
Another category of illness on the rise is vector-borne diseases — diseases spread to humans by bites from ticks, fleas, or, most commonly, mosquitoes. As temperatures rise around the world, mosquitoes, which thrive in heat and humidity, have expanded their ranges, spreading more diseases like dengue fever, West Nile virus, and malaria. In addition, extreme weather events often leave behind large amounts of standing water in which mosquitoes breed.
What's being done about this problem?
The most important thing we can do to address the spread of diseases caused by the effects of planetary overheating is to address the planetary overheating itself. To do this, it is vital that we move away from dirty polluting energy sources like gas and oil and toward clean, renewable energy sources like wind and solar.
It is also important to be aware that diseases like melioidosis are out there.
🗣️ Do you worry about getting diseases from bug bites?
🔘 Absolutely 👍
🔘 Only when I'm camping or hiking 🏕️
🔘 Not really 🤷
🔘 Never 👎
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
"This is one of those diseases that is also called the great mimicker because it can look like a lot of different things," Julia Petras, epidemic intelligence service officer for the CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, told HealthDay News.
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
