BBC: Can climate change cause more disease?

We discussed animals adapting their behaviour in response to climate change in earlier programmes, but we didn't focus on one species in detail. So, in this programme, we'll take a look at an especially unwelcome insect: the mosquito. 

Every year, mosquito-borne diseases kill around three-quarters of a million globally, with most deaths occurring in children under five. 

Wieth warming temperatures, mosquitos are now spreading to new areas, including Europe. We'll hear about dengue fever, one of the diseases they bring, and as usual, we'll learn some useful new vocabulary as well. But first, I have a question for you, Neil. Dengue isn't the only sickness mosquitos spread, so which of the following is also a mosquito-borne disease? Is it:

a) ebola     b) cholera   or    c) malaria?

I think the answer is c) malaria.

OK, Neil, we'll find out later in the programme. One country at the forefront of the problem is Indonesia which, in recent years, has seen a surge in dengue-related deaths. Here's Dr. Dewi Iriani, a pediatrician in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, speaking with BBC World Service programme, The Climate Question. 

Fever and muscle aches are common symptoms for a viral infection, for example red spots on the skin, or maybe there is a fever that lasts for three days, we can suspect that it's dengue fever. Day five to seven is the critical window for a dengue fever patient. Sometimes parents don't know about this critical window, and when they bring the child to the hospital, it's difficult for us to help. 

Dr. Iriani describes the symptoms of dengue- the signs that indicate the presence of a disease in your body. These include fever, when your body temperature is higher than normal, and your heart beats very fast. 

Dengue is not fatal- if you receive treatment quickly. There is a critical window between days five and seven of the infection when a patient needs treatment to survive. A critical window refers to a limited period of time during which action must be taken to achieve a certain resullt. 

Dengue cases in Indonesia have now grown to over 150,000 and many blame climate change. Periods of drought, when little rain falls, force people to collect drinking water in buckets, giving mosquitos places to breed. 

According to Professor Manisha Kulkarnia, an epidoemiologist from the University of Ottawa, higher tempeeratdures also mean higher rates of replication, something she explained to Paul Conolly, professor of BBC World Service's, The Climate Question. 

The higher the temperature, the quicker that the mosquito can actually replicate that virus within its body, and then be able to transmit it back to another host when it bites. 

Manisha also talked about the link between poverty and dengue, which is an important part of this jigsaw isn't it, because as more and more people move to cities and live in cramped conditions, with poor sanitation, then more and more people are exposed to dengue, so there's something of a domino effect here. 

----cramped: not having enough space or time