Global Warming and the Political Ecology of Health by Hans Baer Merrill Singer

Author:Hans Baer, Merrill Singer [Hans Baer, Merrill Singer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General
ISBN: 9781315427997
Google: 76oYDQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-09-17T04:30:29+00:00

Yellow Fever

Yellow fever is an old disease (with accounts dating to the 17th century) being spread anew by global warming. Named for the yellow pallor of its victims (caused by jaundice), it has played an important role in various historic events, including the defeat of French control of Haiti (by devastating the French colonial army and thereby assisting in the liberation of the world’s first black nation). Infection with the yellow fever virus (a member of the flavivirus family) causes a wide range of symptoms, some comparatively mild (muscle pain, backache, headache, tremors, loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting), some severe (bleeding from the mouth, nose, eyes, and stomach; loss of kidney function). Unlike many of the diseases discussed in this chapter, a vaccine for yellow fever has been available for many years. Unvaccinated populations, however, continue to be infected in Africa, Central America, and South America, resulting in over 30,000 fatalities a year. In 2001, the World Health Organization (2001) estimated that yellow fever causes 200,000 infections a year. Spread among humans is quickest in what has been called “urban yellow fever,” characterized by the introduction of the virus to domesticated mosquitoes (like A. aegypti) that are adapted to living in large cities. A recent outbreak of yellow fever that set off fears of a potential urban epidemic occurred in Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia in 2004; although controlled, the outbreak caused 40 deaths. In the assessment of virologist Robert Shope (1991), “If I had to guess which vector-borne diseases would pose the greatest threat in case of global warming in North America, I would say those transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes—yellow fever and dengue.” This conclusion is based on the observed rapid northward migration of the mosquito, an ancient descendant of the common fruit fly.

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