More and more we are reading about the proposed effects of 'Climate Change' and what this will mean to the planet and the health of humans and animals alike.
Unfortunately, Health Canada and medical boards around the world are still trying to imply that any 'theorized effects' are (still) decades away and little needs to be done at the moment.
This is the only way that I can see any logic of the continued denial that Lyme Disease and the other commonly associated diseases are either rarely found within the Canadian borders… or are too rare to devote any education and awareness amongst healthcare providers and the public alike.
Below is a recent article that appeared on October 8th in the UK Daily Mail that lists a 'deadly dozen' of iseases that we will see an increase, of which those of us with Lyme and Associated Diseases are more than likely infected with two on the list… A prestigious grouping that I would rather not be a member of!
ClimateChange Spreading 'Deadly Dozen' Diseases, Experts Warn....
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:30 PM on 08th October 2008
[ source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1073409/Climate-change-spreading-deadly-dozen-diseases-experts-warn.html?ITO=1490 ]
Diseases ranging from avian flu to yellow fever are likely to spread more because of climate change, the Wildlife Conservation Society warned today.
The society, based in the Bronx Zoo in the United States and which works in 60 nations, urged better monitoring of wildlife health to help give an early warning of how pathogens might spread with global warming.
It listed the 'deadly dozen' as avian flu, tick-borne babesia, cholera, ebola, parasites, plague, lyme disease, red tides of algal blooms, Rift Valley fever, sleeping sickness, tuberculosis and yellow fever.
Even minor disturbances can have far reaching consequences on what diseases [wild animals] might encounter and transmit as climate changes,' said Steven Sanderson, head of the society.
'The term "climate change" conjures images of melting ice caps and rising sea levels that threaten coastal cities and nations, but just as important is how increasing temperatures and fluctuating precipitation levels will change the distribution of dangerous pathogens," he said.
'Monitoring wildlife health will help us predict where those trouble spots will occur and plan how to prepare,' he said in a statement.
The U.N. Climate Panel says that greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from human use of fossil fuels, are raising temperatures and will disrupt rainfall patterns and have impacts ranging from heatwaves to melting glaciers.
For thousands of years people have known of a relationship between health and climate,' William Karesh of the society old a news conference in Barcelona to launch the report at an International Union for Conservation of Nature congress.
Among phrases, people said they were 'under the weather' when ill, he noted.
He said that the report was not an exhaustive list but an illustration of the range of infectious diseases that may threaten humans and animals.
COMMENTS:
We lost almost an entire flock of sheep to a disease carried by ticks. It was devastating. We know a number of other smallholders who have experienced the same thing. I also know 3 people within my local area who contracted Lyme disease. I think the problem has definitely got worse over the last few years. I found out a lot from the tick disease charity BADA-UK. They have lots of information about tick control.
I think we are seeing definite ecological changes and it is really worrying, not only for us from the point of view of our livelihood but also from the health point of view.
- Andrew C, Wiltshire, 09/10/2008 14:59
Thank you Daily Mail for this article.
Lyme Disease is affecting many people in the UK. It is difficult to diagnose and if people aren't aware of it they may not seek medical attention at the time of the tick bite or bulls eye rash when a short course of antibiotics can prevent a long insiduous illness with many possible symptoms similar to syphilis, arthritis, muscle weakness, neurological, gastric, heart, meningitis or fatigue.
Infact it can be mistaken for many of our autoimmune illnesses, MS, arthritis, ALS, Alzheimers.
There is much debate over this illness medically and politically throughout the world and much information can be found on a charity website Lyme Disease Action.
I have been ill for 5 1/2 years and mis diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica and ME/CFS now since being diagnosed with Lyme Disease and treated on long term antibiotics I can again walk upstairs properly for the first time in 3 1/2 years and no longer have debilitating pain or muscle weakness.
- Joanne Drayson, GUILDFORD, 09/10/2008 10:05
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