Plea to do more against climate disease threats

Vets have been urged to collaborate with other scientific disciplines to help reduce climate-related disease spread for both animals and humans.

The plea, made at the WSAVA Congress in Warsaw, followed the announcement of a multi-million-pound grant to support UK research into the transmission of mosquito and midge-borne conditions.

Project leaders have claimed their work, which aims to improve disease preparedness, will help both livestock and wildlife, as well as people.

Collective action

But microbiologist and veterinary technician Adrianna Iwan, a member of ESCCAP Poland, argued the imminent prospect of “intense and significant climate warming” emphasised the need for collective action by veterinary and human physicians, alongside other sectors.

She said: “Actions we take in this decade will shape the world for future generations.”

Mrs Iwan highlighted research which found 58% of 375 infectious diseases analysed, many of which are vector-borne, had worsened due to climate change.

No longer tropical diseases

She also argued that diseases that are classed as tropical could no longer be strictly considered as such, citing the examples of both West Nile virus and leishmaniasis which she suggested could soon be “endemic” in Europe.

Referring to her own country, she described how pathogens were once “controlled” by winters while current winters were not of the kind “my parents or grandparents remember”.

But she also voiced concerns about limitations in current research, which she argued tended to focus on a single disease rather than the wider problem.

Focus on research

Mrs Iwan told delegates: “I appeal to the world – let’s focus on research on the correlation between climate change and disease spread. What does this mean for humans and animals?”

That question may be answered by the new PAMEC (Preparing for and mitigating the impacts of environmental change on Dipteran-borne disease in the UK) project, which has secured £3.75 million for research into mosquito and midge-borne diseases out of a £20 million UK Research and Innovation fund to tackle epidemic threats.

The latter category is of particular current concern due to the ongoing threat from bluetongue, which has seen more than 3,300 incidents reported in the UK since the start of July, including the first ever recorded cases in Scotland.

But the initiative also seeks to build on the work of the Mosquito Scotland project, whose researchers supported government efforts to contain an outbreak of the zoonotic Usutu virus last year.

Declining blackbirds

The virus has been linked to a decline in the UK’s blackbird population but could also act as a precursor for West Nile virus.

Project co-lead Heather Ferguson, a professor of medical entomology and infectious disease ecology at the University of Glasgow, said that work had “laid the foundation” for the new project, which will collaborate with government and academic institutions, as well as citizen scientists and industry groups.

She said: “By strengthening the UK’s capacity to identify, limit and respond to vector-borne diseases, our project will directly benefit human, livestock and wildlife health.”

Public Health Scotland veterinary public health consultant Dominic Mellor said: “Environmental changes are increasing the potential for mosquito and midge-borne diseases to emerge in the UK.

“Therefore, it’s important that we strengthen our understanding, surveillance and preparedness.”