Can climate change cause more disease? ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English  from BBC Learning English. I’m Beth.

And I’m Neil.

Here at 6 Minute English, 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.

With 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 paediatrician 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. But if they're accompanied  

by symptoms, 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 result.

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 Kulkarni,  an epidemiologist from the University of  

Ottawa, higher temperatures also  mean higher rates of replication,  

something she explained to Paul Conolly, presenter  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.

Dengue spreads when an infected mosquito  bites a host – an animal that another  

animal lives on or uses for food. And  Professor Kulkarni is concerned about  

poverty as much as climate change. She  calls it an important part of the jigsaw,  

an idiom meaning a part of a complicated  situation that helps you understand it.

Poverty forces many Indonesians to move  into crowded cities with poor sanitation.  

These provide the perfect breeding ground  for mosquitos creating a domino effect - a  

situation in which something bad happens,  causing further negative consequences.

The domino effect means that dengue  is spreading not just in Asia,  

but in parts of the world which didn’t have  it before, including France, Spain, and Italy.  

But the news isn’t all bad. Fortunately,  technology is getting better at slowing  

the spread, including early warning systems that  can predict dengue outbreaks months in advance,  

and the ongoing work to produce a vaccine. All  of which, hopefully, mean an end to dengue,  

and similar diseases… speaking of which,  Beth, what was the answer to your question?

I asked you to name another  mosquito-borne disease, besides dengue.

And I said malaria.

Which was the correct answer! Dengue,  malaria, and yellow fever are all diseases  

spread by mosquitoes. Right, let’s recap the  vocabulary we’ve learned from this programme,  

starting with symptom – a sign of the  presence of a disease in your body.

A fever is a medical condition which  increases your body temperature and heartbeat.

A critical window is a limited period of time  

during which action must be taken  to achieve the desired outcome.

The word host has several meanings,  but in biology it’s a plant or animal  

that another plant or animal lives  on as a parasite or uses for food.

The idiom part of the jigsaw,  or part of the puzzle, means a  

part of a complicated situation  that helps you to understand it.

And finally, one negative event causing  another, which in turn causes another,  

can be called a domino effect. Once  again, our six minutes are up. Goodbye!

Bye!