(Editor's note: The following is a feedback to Benedicto Q. Sanchez's Nature Speaks column "Dengue Fever" dated July 12, 2013)
rDEAR Ben,
I believe you are right in your observation that the dengue epidemic we are having now, is related to climate change.
Dengue has apparently become seasonal, as it comes with the wet season. It is also more pronounced in third world countries, where living conditions are crowded and dense. It is viral, has no cure but for the body’s defenses.
I remember in the ’60s and the ’70s, the only known mosquito-borne disease was malaria. Dengue was unheard of. Climate change has possibly something to do with its appearance.
Climate change causes direct physical change in the environment’s temperature, rainfall, sea level, wind speed and direction, and harsh weather, which brings extreme flooding. While these conditions are now global, they adversely affect more, the most vulnerable sectors of our society, which, as usual, are the poor and the homeless. Dengue is, not only a health and sanitation problem, but an environmental issue. Any long term program to address this problem should include environmental planning and protection.
Regards,
Ray Alan T. Drilon
He is no fool who loses what he cannot keep and gains what he cannot lose- Jim Elliot