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Climate change pushes diseases north: expert

Fri Mar 9, 2007 2:10PM GMT

By Jeremy Clarke

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Global warming is pushing northwards diseases more commonly

found in developing countries, posing a risk to the financial and physical

health of rich nations, the head of a livestock herders' charity said.

Steve Sloan, chief executive of GALVmed, said on Friday insect-borne diseases

were increasingly moving north, such as the viral infection bluetongue that has

hit cattle and sheep in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany.

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If Kenya's Rift Valley Fever also reached Europe, the impact would be immense,

he said.

"These 'African' diseases have become global issues because of climate change,"

Sloan told Reuters in an interview.

"Following the bluetongue outbreak in Germany, some meat markets in the country

saw an annual drop of up to a third," he said. "Wait until something like Rift

Valley Fever arrives, that brings death with it as well."

Bluetongue, which is not harmful to humans, has been present for several years

in Spain and Italy.

The disease, transmitted by midges, was first discovered in South Africa and

has been spreading north since the late 1990s. Experts say that is due to

global warming.

"There is a very real threat that diseases like River Valley Fever will follow

bluetongue into Europe," Brian Perry, senior scientist at the International

Livestock Research Institute, told Reuters. "Climate change has a definite

impact in the establishment of these diseases."

Within a month of bluetongue being detected in the southern Netherlands last

year, the number of Dutch farms affected by it had doubled to more than 400,

despite measures to stop the spread of the virus.

"These are economic diseases that should frighten the hell out of Europe's meat

business, not to mention the threat they pose to human lives," Sloan said.

"Climate change is bringing them to Europe."

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GALVmed aims to reduce poverty of livestock keepers in developing countries by

improving access to pharmaceuticals and vaccines.