Researchers issue urgent warning over spread of dangerous disease carried by snails: 'Leading to outbreaks in new locations'
Schistosomiasis is a parasitic infection caused by snail-carried worms. Infection typically starts with making contact with the worms in freshwater, such as in a canal, river, or pond. Person-to-person transmission can continue when urine or feces containing the parasite's eggs contaminates a water source.
Symptoms — including fever, chills, coughing, and aches — can manifest within a couple of months, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic infections can lead to anemia, bloody stools, urinary problems, organ damage, and more.
Historically, 90% of the schistosomiasis cases requiring treatment have been located in Africa, but infections have also been documented in Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East. While the London-based outlet has reported more recent spreading in parts of Europe may be largely tourism- and migration-driven, researcher Bonnie Webster also told the publication that transmissions may emerge in further locations due to shifting weather patterns. Rising global temperatures are driving more frequent and more intense flooding events, causing snails to appear in new wet settings and increasing water contamination.
"Climate change will likely cause dramatic changes in transmission which need to be understood," Webster, who studies the disease at London's Natural History Museum, told The Telegraph. "Some areas will become drier and other areas will become flooded, creating new water bodies. This will lead to snails changing where they can be found and cause the prevalence of schistosomiasis to increase and spread, leading to outbreaks in new locations."
Communities in low- and middle-income countries lacking sufficient sanitation infrastructure are already disproportionately impacted by this serious issue, and women and girls are additionally vulnerable to its effects.
All people can become infected by these parasites, but one manifestation of the disease — female genital schistosomiasis, or FGS — can cause sexual, reproductive, and other health concerns for women and girls. Gendered labor dynamics can make this group additionally susceptible to infection through activities like washing laundry in contaminated water.
Unlimit Health says that around 56 million women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with FGS, which can go undiagnosed and, especially when misdiagnosed as a sexually transmitted infection or otherwise left untreated, can lead to bleeding, pelvic pain, ulcers, miscarriage, and infertility. It may also contribute to increased risks of HIV and cervical cancer.
Overall, schistosomiasis impacts hundreds of millions of people each year, resulting in up to 20,000 deaths annually, according to The Telegraph.
Unfortunately, as Webster said, "Once one snail is infected, they can infect a whole population of humans."
Do you worry about getting diseases from bug bites?
Absolutely
Only when I'm camping or hiking
Not really
Never
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.
While treatments exist, potential drug resistance and current medical shortages could hamper attempts to curtail infections. Experts relayed to The Telegraph that recent substantial cuts to the United States Agency for International Development may also stymie research and response efforts for neglected tropical diseases like schistosomiasis.
NTDs disproportionately impact marginalized populations. The World Health Organization says they affect over 1 billion people globally and that NTDs are "often related to environmental conditions." Of course, because of travel and climate change, many such infections may spread to more communities and farther regions.
The CDC notes that prevention includes clean-up of contaminated areas, implementation of sanitation systems, and avoiding swimming, wading, and washing in unsafe water. A number of these measures require funding.
Staying updated about how human-caused climate change can impact health and well-being everywhere can be key to organizing effective responses to rising global temperatures. Especially together in groups, friends and neighbors can make a difference by exploring these issues, raising awareness, supporting pro-environment policies, and taking on climate-conscious shifts at home to help address the extreme weather that imperils billions worldwide.
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘Ozempic for dogs' may be the next big thing in pet health
With the runaway success of drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro effectively helping humans slim down, researchers and biotech firms are now sniffing out a new frontier: weight-loss drugs for dogs. With up to 60 per cent of dogs in the UK estimated to be overweight or obese, the market for such drugs could be considerable. Okava, a San Francisco-based bio-pharma company which specialises in pet health, is planning to run trials for a drug designed to mimic the effects of Ozempic, with the goal to produce an implant-version for dogs, which lasts six-months at a time. According to estimates on the company's website, the current market for such a product could be worth $10bn, and they hope to have a canine weight-loss drug available as early as 2028 or 2029. In human weight-loss drugs, the active ingredient in Mounjaro is called tirzepatide, and in Ozempic, it is semaglutide. Both work in similar ways, mimicking a natural hormone called GLP-1. This hormone regulates blood sugar and appetite, ultimately leading people to feel fuller longer and reducing food intake. The challenge for biotech firms is to reproduce that effect in dogs – a species well-known for practically limitless gorging. The hope is that an Ozempic-style drug may reduce dogs' begging behaviour, which many owners find it difficult to resist rewarding. Often, lack of appetite in dogs is associated with illness, meaning developing an effective drug that doesn't appear to make pets seem unwell is a fine balance. One such drug, named Slentrol, was launched in 2007, but did not sell well, partly due to how owners' perceived their pets behaviour when on the medication. Okava's planned implant, called OKV-119, contains a GLP-1 mimic called exenatide. Michael Klotsman, Okava's chief executive, said he hoped dogs' behavioural changes from OKV-119 would be quite different from illness-related appetite loss. 'What owners should expect to see is their pet eating appropriate portions without the previous food obsession – they'll still eat regularly and show interest in meals, just without the excessive begging, scavenging or gulping behaviour,' he told The Guardian. But not all tails are wagging. Vets have suggested that in most cases, dog owners would be better off avoiding obesity in their dogs through more exercise and by restricting their pets' diets. Caroline Allen, Chief Veterinary Officer at the RSPCA told The Independent: 'A healthy diet and exercise is the best way to keep our pets happy and well but we understand that owners can sometimes struggle to manage their pets' weight. There is currently little information about proposed weight-loss implants or vaccinations for animals, and owners shouldn't rely on them becoming available. 'Before resorting to these sorts of interventions, owners should seek help from their vet about how to reduce their pet's weight with a good diet and providing lots of opportunities to exercise and play in ways that their pet will enjoy." She added: 'It may be that weight loss jabs or implants may have a role to play in future in very limited circumstances where animals are clinically unwell, but the best thing we can do is set healthy habits from the start so our pets can live the best life possible.'
Fox News
28 minutes ago
- Fox News
Doctors divided over new diet trend that has babies licking butter and gumming ribeye steak
Some parents are swapping puréed fruits and vegetables, oatmeal and yogurt for butter, bone broth, sardines and chicken liver as part of a controversial new "carnivore baby" trend – but experts are urging caution. As carnivore and protein-packed diets gain popularity among adults, many of whom are rejecting ultra-processed foods, some are passing them on to their kids. Some doctors are even sharing that they feed their babies meat-forward meals, The Wall Street Journal recently reported. Facebook groups are catering to carnivore families and parents are sharing tips on school lunches – rotisserie chicken, pork rinds and hard-boiled eggs among them. Meanwhile, others seek insight on trying to conceive while eating only meat. Dariya Quenneville, a mother in Ontario, Canada, told the publication that she started feeding her daughter raw egg yolks and puréed chicken liver as soon as she could eat solid foods and then moved on to sardines, bone broth ice pops, leg of lamb, beef heart and tongue. Lorraine Bonkowski, a registered dietitian from Michigan, and her one-year-old daughter are both on carnivore diets, Bonkowski told The Wall Street Journal. The little girl licks butter off a spoon, gets a bottle full of bone broth and uses her four teeth to gum ribeye steak. Bonkowski said she introduced fruit to her daughter's diet because her baby was getting constipated from all the meat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends feeding children over 12 months a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, proteins and dairy products. While the carnivore trend has been firing up – U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently shared that he follows it – others have been pushing it for years. In 2021, Dr. Robert Cywes, a Florida-based pediatrician, and his wife, Janae, said in a YouTube video that they started giving their son meat at 4 months old. His first real meal, they said, was a ribeye steak. "From a functional perspective, from a milestone perspective, he's right on target," Cywes claimed at the time. Dr. Shawn Baker, the Washington-based author of the book "The Carnivore Diet," boasted in a YouTube video last year that his baby ate a carnivore diet for six months, was walking at 10 months old and grew to be "strong and tall." "The first food for a baby, when it was ready to wean off the breast, was meat." Some doctors claim the practice has been used for centuries. "This is actually the original way that humans fed their babies 100 years ago, 500 years ago, 5,000 years ago," Dr. Ken Berry, a family physician in Tennessee, told Fox News' Dana Perino on "America's Newsroom." "The first food for a baby, when it was ready to wean off the breast, was meat … gnawing on a bone," Berry said. Meat ensures that babies get certain nutrients, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and amino acids, he added, slamming puffs and other kids' snacks as "junk." However, Berry did recommend moderation by pairing meat with whole foods like berries. Fox News' senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel said introducing kids to meat gets them plenty of protein and iron, yet without fruits and vegetables, the diet can become an "addiction." "It's a high-inflammation diet, which means later on, when you get to be an adult, you end up with heart disease, you end up with cancer, you end up with diabetes and you end up with obesity," Siegel said on "The Faulkner Focus." "This is a very bad diet to get addicted to as a kid," he said. Lauren Manaker, a registered dietitian nutritionist and mom in South Carolina, told Fox News Digital that while the carnivore diet provides "many options" that are "fantastic for babies," she said it "isn't ideal for little ones." "Babies need a variety of nutrients to grow and thrive, and a diet that cuts out or limits plant-based foods like fruits, veggies and grains can leave some big nutritional gaps," she cautioned.
Boston Globe
2 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Erin overshot every model to reach ‘extreme' rapid intensity. What is making these storms so threatening?
The hurricane, now a Category 4 storm, is regenerating as it expands into a powerful force of nature. Erin was located just east of the Bahamas on Monday and had sustained winds of 140 miles per hour and tropical storm-force winds reaching out 230 miles, the National Hurricane Center said Advertisement 'Erin's intensification was pretty remarkable,' said Andy Hazelton, a hurricane researcher with the University of Miami. 'It got better organized [Friday] night and then just exploded overnight (Friday).' Advertisement Erin had a very tight core, which allowed the winds to accelerate quickly like a figure skater closing their arms, rotating faster around a central point. Another way to look at it is when you have a large carousel at a theme park versus a smaller one in a children's park. Circulating around a central point is faster with the smaller carousel. Erin was a small storm that simply blew up around that smaller, tighter rotation. 'Extreme rapid intensification' was exactly what happened in 2023 with Hurricane Lee, which shattered the 35-mile-per-hour standard for rapid intensification by increasing winds by 80 miles per hour. The number of hurricanes undergoing "extreme rapid intensification" is increasing. Climate Central The ocean's rising temperatures, ranging from 84 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit (2 to 4 degrees above average), have provided the necessary fuel for storms to dramatically strengthen, a consequence of a warming planet, forecasters and researchers say. 'It was in an environment with extremely warm waters and minimal wind shear, and there is even warmer water ahead of it,' said Marshall Shepherd, director of the University of Georgia's atmospheric sciences program and former president of the Boston-based American Meteorological Society. 'That extra heat comes back to manifest itself at some point, and one of the ways it does is through stronger hurricanes,' Shepherd said. Atlantic sea-surface temperatures where Hurricane Erin has been traversing are running 1 to 2 degrees Celsius (3 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit). Tropical Tidbits 'We've seen a lot of rapid intensification cases in recent years: Milton, Helene, Ian, Ida, Laura, Dorian, Michael, etc.,' Hazelton said. 'Research is ongoing, but studies do suggest RI will be more likely in a warming climate, even if the total number of hurricanes remains about the same.' Shepherd noted that a Advertisement Erin went through explosive intensification Friday into Saturday. Hot seas, low wind shear, tight core all allowed an 80 mph jump in wind speeds in less than 24 hours! Growing in numbers The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season saw seven hurricanes rapidly intensify, the most since 2020, when 10 of the 13 hurricanes underwent rapid intensification multiple times during their lifespans. Similarly, last hurricane season delivered 34 individual episodes of rapid intensification, nearly doubling the average number during a typical hurricane season in the past decade. Hurricanes Beryl, Helene, Milton, Isaac, Kirk, Rafael, and Oscar all underwent rapid intensification multiple times. Seven hurricanes went through rapid intensification during the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season - the most since 2020. NOAA About 80 percent of major hurricanes undergo rapid intensification throughout their development. The combination of low wind shear and plenty of hot, moist air from the warm ocean water is like flicking a match onto gasoline — the atmosphere ignites. As oceans continue to warm, the fuel source will just continue to grow more potent for storms to explode. In the case of Hurricane Erin, it struggled early on as a tropical storm to gain enough strength through a large plume of Saharan dust. But after shaking the moisture-wicking dry air, Erin entered more favorable conditions for quick strengthening, exploding into a very intense storm. Rapid intensification is more common than we think with hurricanes, especially with global warming. Climate Central These kinds of storms have increased in number in recent decades. Since the early 1980s, a tropical storm or hurricane is now five times more likely to rapidly intensify, growing to one in three storms now likely to see an explosive build-up. That brings us to what climatology tells us and what might be coming down the pike. August typically sees a massive leap in rapid intensification episodes, with the most occurring in September, when sea-surface temperatures across the Atlantic are at their highest for the season. 'Mid-to-late August is exactly when we start paying super close attention to the waves coming off Africa… that's when the Saharan dust also starts to go away,' no longer impeding a storm's development, said Brian McNoldy, a senior researcher with the University of Miami. Advertisement If the chances and frequency of rapidly intensifying hurricanes keep increasing, then naturally so do the chances for more landfalls at greater strength. The percentage of all Atlantic rapid intensification events each month during a hurricane season. CSU Rapidly intensifying storms make hurricane forecasting so vital, especially during the height of hurricane season, which ranges from August to October, and peaks on Sept. 10. Although predicting when a storm will experience such intensification is extremely difficult, forecasting accuracy has dramatically improved since the early 2000s. 'Around 2010, the idea that you could have 70% detection of rapid intensification at 24 hours (as the National Hurricane Center did last year) would have been unheard of,' said Hazelton. Meteorologist and Globe correspondent Chris Gloninger and Marianne Mizera of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Ken Mahan can be reached at
