European Center for Disease Prevention and Control be working with the European Union Member States to guarantee responses. “New Phase” will bring Longer, widespread and intense broadcasts of these diseases.
Climate change is enhancing the increase in Europe from mosquitoes transmitted by mosquitoes, which forward the continent to a “new normal” and show the need for a robust and coordinated response in public health defense.
The warning is from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC, in the English acronym), at a time when broke records of infections Western Nile Virus (VNO) and Chikungunya in European territory.
“Europe is facing times of transmission longer and more intense for mosquito -transmitted diseases, including VNO and chikungunya. The change is caused by climatic and environmental factors such as increasing temperatures, longer summers, milder winters and changes in the rain standard, conditions that combined create a favorable environment the development of mosquitoes and virus transmission“It reads in a statement from the ECDC this Wednesday released.
For the European body, Europe is enter a “new phase”with longer, widespread and intense transmissions of these diseases, which will be the “new normal”.
The ECDC claims to be working with the European Union Member States to ensure response to the measure and public health guidelines timely to reinforce the European response.
According to the ECDC, the mosquito that can transmit the viral ckikungunya (Aedes albopictus) is installed in 16 European countries and 369 regionsmore than 114 regions of a decade ago.
This combined with the increasing increase in international travel makes the outbreaks of these viruses more likely, and registered this year 27 outbreaks from Ckikungunya, a New record on the European continent.
“For the first time, an infection of local origin by the chikungunya virus was reported in the French Alsace region, an exceptional occurrence to this latitude, which underlines the continuous expansion to the north of the risk of transmission.
According to the ECDC, the distribution of VNO cases in Europe continues to change and in the last decade infections have been detected in new regions every year.
This year, For the first time, cases were recorded in the Latin and Frosinone regionssouth of Rome, Italy, with the European continent recorded the largest number of infections by VNO in three years.
ECDC data indicate that on 13 August there were record of 19 deaths and 335 infections of local origin by the VNO in eight European countries.
Italy is the country with the highest record of infections (274), followed by Greece (35), Serbia (nine), France (seven), Romania (six), Hungary (two), Bulgaria (one) and Spain (one).
“The ECDC estimates that infections continue to increasebeing expected to reach a seasonal peak in August or September, “reads the health body note, which warns that with the dissemination of viruses will be increasing the number of people at risk in Europe.
Residents and visitors in areas where these viruses exist should adopt individual protection measures such as the use of repellents, wearing long sleeves and pants, especially at the beginning and end of the day, and mosquitoes in windows and beds, recommends ECDC, especially for elderly people, children or with weakened immune system.
The European body’s note also states that new vaccines were developed for the Chikungunya virus, but there is no human use vaccine for VNO yet.
