Global Warming Wants to Eat Your Flesh
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA 
on 08.16.07
Photo credit: Johns Hopkins University
We'd have used a picture of flesh-eating bacteria dilligently at work, but all our options made us want to disgorge the contents of our stomachs, so here's a nonthreatening—dare we say even cuddly?—microscopic look at the insidious beasties themselves. In reassuring monochrome. (This was a close second.)
Now that our breakfasts are properly secured, we can tell you that scientists at the University of Hull and Kent in the U.K. warn of a dramatic uptick in the numbers of people suffering Leishmaniasis, a flesh-eating and sometimes fatal disease, should global warming continue its current course.
This festive disease is caused by a parasite transmitted through the bites of sand flies, found typically only in tropical climes. As temperatures increase, however, so will the number of countries the sand fly will find inhabitable, as it moves further north and through Europe, say university scientists.
To combat the disease, the universities are pioneering the use of photodynamic therapy, traditionally used to treat cancers. The only other major program testing the efficacy of the therapy to fight Leishmaniasis is at Harvard Medical School in the United States.
Because of travel and tourism, nations already affected by the disease are on the rise. Military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan are exposed to conditions ripe for developing Leishmaniasis.
Global warming and the military presence in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan mean that this horrific and debilitating disease is affecting more people than ever before," says Dr. Ross Boyle, lead researcher on the project at the University of Hull. "My co-investigator, Dr. Tim Paget at the Medway School of Pharmacy, Hull PhD student Carrie-Anne Bristow and myself wanted to work towards finding a significantly better treatment.”
Leishmaniasis currently affects 12 million people around the world, with 350 million people at risk of infection and a further 2 million new cases popping up each year.
It manifests itself in one of three ways: The less-severe cutaneous type results in large, unpleasant sores, while the mucoutaneous variety attacks the mucous membranes and eats away at parts of the body such as the lips and nose. The visceral form is the worst; it attacks the body systemically and leads to death within as little as a few months.
Although current treatments are available (with nasty side effects, to boot), the need for alternative methods is vital because of increasing drug resistance by the parasite, say researchers.
Next: Global warming decides to get all George Romero on us and RAISES THE DEAD. ::Science Daily and BBC News
See also: ::New Worries about Climate Change-Induced Spread of Infectious Diseases, ::Legionnaires' Disease Spreading Rapidly Across U.K., and ::Fight Global Warming and Improve Your Health
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Eat a Vegetarian Diet, Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by a Ton
- Treat Poison Ivy with Vodka!
- Is Your Kitchen Garden Toxic? 5 Ways To Fix Polluted Soil For Safe Homegrown Food
- Avoid Evaporating Gas: Park in the Shade and Buy Gas When it's Cool
- Green Glossary: Meltwater
- How to Grow Your Own Micro Greens
Wow, that is scary! Hope it wont reach us up here in northern Norway!!
I lived in central america for several years on the caribean coast there are lots of sand fies although the locals seem not bothered at all by them the tourists are tortured by them. One year i left hunduras and the sand fly bites on my legs would swell up all pussy the size of a peach, and the whole would get bigger and bigger but i have no long term scares
My dad came to el salvador & he got the bites and his swelled up like big bubbles they were so gross!
I ended up taking a strong atibitic after getting a blood infection that i think was started by the bites i wonder after reading this article if it had something to do with this bacteria
Lisa
I had a friend who has something similar. He caught it studying flies in the tree canopy in Guyana.
The bug was so exotic he had to give his doctors instructions about how to treat it. It involved medicating him with the heavy metal antimony.
He dropped by the office to show mel the parasites growing under the skin. He also showed them to a pre-med working at the next desk. She was so disgusted she dropped out of her program and became a personal shopper.
It worries me stories like this! It shows the far-reaching effects of global warming.