Global Warming Linked to Viral Epidemic in Europe

Thanks to global warming, disease-carrying pests are proliferating in Europe and spreading a viral epidemic called nephropathia epidemica (NE). New research shows that hotter summers, milder winters and increased production of seedcrop by broadleaf trees spurred an increase in the vole population which in turn resulted in the epidemic.

Researchers, including Dr. Jan Clement of the Belgian Hantavirus Reference Centre, began investigating in Belgium and found a 37.6% increase in NE cases between 2005 and 2007. The virus has spread to France, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Science Daily has it:

He said, “This animal-borne disease, scarcely known before 1990, has been increasing in incidence in Belgium with a cyclic pattern, reaching epidemic proportions since 2005. The fact that the growing combined effect of hotter summer and autumn seasons is matched by the growth of NE in recent years means this epidemic can be considered an effect of global warming”.

NE is caused by infection with Puumala virus (PUUV), which is spread by the bank vole, a rodent common throughout most of Europe. The authors believe that warmer weather causes increases in the amount of ‘mast’, plant seeds from oak and beech trees, that forms the voles’ staple diet. This plethora of food results in increases in the vole population and warm summers raise the chances that people will visit the forests where the voles live. According to Clement, “Since 1993, each NE peak has been preceded by increased autumnal mast formation the year before, resulting in yearly NE numbers significantly higher than those during the mast years themselves”.

NE is a relatively mild hemorrhagic fever that causes flu-like symptoms often with renal complications, sometimes also with pulmonary problems, needing Intensive Care treatment, such as acute dialysis and/or mechanical ventilation. In some rare cases it can, moreover, cause the shock with internal haemorrhaging and death for which these infections are infamous. Clement said, “In 1997, more than 9,000 people in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan contracted the disease, of which 34 cases were fatal”.

What did we tell you? Global warming and epidemics will likely go hand-in-hand. Scientists have already warned that deadly diseases will spread more quickly as the world warms – malaria, dengue fever and encephalitis are just a few of the things we can look forward to. Science Daily previously went into detail about how scientists think this will happen.

That’s it, I’m convinced. I’m turning my basement into a bunker, landlord be damned. Pandemic, war, famine, zombies? I’m gonna be ready.

Link [Science Daily]
Photo credit: The Happening via Dark Roasted Blend

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