This is not a joke even though we wish it were. Around the world over the past 10 years, the rat population in cities has increased due to a number of factors including climate change. And this could favor the reappearance of the bubonic plague
This is not a joke even though we wish it were. Around the world over the past 10 years, the rat population in cities has increased due to a number of factors including i climate changes. And this could favor the reappearance of the bubonic plague.
A sound the alarm was the Los Angeles Times, according to which the cause is to be found in the changing climate and which extends the breeding season of rats and rodents, leading to a sharp increase in their numbers in places like Los Angeles, New York and Houston.
But not only. In cities around the world just considering the last decade they have increased from 15% to 20%. The fault of the climate changes and a greater presence of man in urban contexts. This increases the amount of waste, which favors the presence of mice.
The problem isn't just about handling rats. In fact, they can host the fleas carrying the bacterium Yersinia pestis responsible for over. The disease is already endemic in fleas that live on animals in California, Arizona, Wyoming, and other states. Climate change could make their lives easier, precisely because of the greater presence of rats, bringing the disease more into contact with humans.
"Any climate change condition that increases the number of fleas [also increases] the distribution of the plague," said Dr. Janet Foley, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of California Davis.
An outbreak of bubonic plague due to contact with sick squirrels prompted Russia to close the border with Mongolia last week but other major cities are trying to cope with rising rat populations.
Here another difficulty arises, always linked to man. The natural predators of rats and squirrels, such as coyotes and snakes, are in decline due to the growth of the world population and this will only favor their spread.
And once again the solution would be to mitigate the effects of climate change and global warming, which are altering the balance of every ecosystem, bringing home diseases that for a long time seemed forgotten
READ also:
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- 10 events that will make you admit the existence of climate change in your home
Francesca Mancuso
