Medical Discovery NewsBridging the World of Medical Discovery and You

Recent Episodes

mosquito

Chickgungunya A Mouthful that is Spreading

MP3 WAV

  • Global warming is worsening the spread of Chickungunya (chicken-GOON-y) in South America. Even Texas and Florida have reported local transmission.  CHIKV, its shorter name, is a zoonotic pathogen spread by mosquitos. That means it’s an infection that spreads between people and animals, but is maintained primarily in rodents, primates, and birds.   

    CHIKV was first identified in Tanzania, East Africa, in the nineteen fifties and has now been found in over one hundred ten countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.  Starting in two thousand four, there have been more outbreaks because the virus has adapted to spread more easily through Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. Also, global warming allowed the mosquitos to grow in more places, for longer, and bite more people.  

    July 2023 was the hottest month in recorded history, and the average global temperature that month was two degrees Fahrenheit above the pre-industrial average. Mosquito behavior, survival, and transmission are affected by climate, and that’s why people in parts of the world that had not had endemic CHIKV are now seeing cases. Huge spikes are found in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.  It’s becoming a problem in India, China, and several African countries.    

    Ten years ago, the first locally acquired CHIKV was reported in North America followed by cases reported in Florida and Texas. As the planet warms, we expect other diseases to also spread, but we should act now to slow climate change. 

    Sign up for expanded print episodes

More Information

Earth’s hottest month: these charts show what happened in July and what comes next
From wilting saguaros in Arizona and hot-tub-like temperatures off the coast of Florida to increased heat-related hospitalizations in Europe and agricultural losses in China, last month felt unusually hot. It was: several teams have now confirmed that July 2023 was the hottest month in recorded history. And there’s more to come.

Chikungunya in the US
Before 2006, chikungunya virus disease was rarely identified in U.S. travelers. During 2006‒2013, studies identified an average of 28 people per year in the United States with positive tests for recent chikungunya virus infection (range 5‒65 per year). All were travelers visiting or returning to the United States from affected areas in Asia, Africa, or the Indian Ocean. In late 2013, the first local transmission of chikungunya virus in the Americas was identified in Caribbean countries and territories. Local transmission means that mosquitoes in the area have been infected with the virus and are spreading it to people.


 Medicine...

Medicine is constantly advancing – that is a great thing about life in the 21st century. But it doesn’t just happen. Dedicated biomedical scientists are making discoveries that translate into those new medical advances.

Biomedical science is broad, encompassing everything from social science to microbiology, biochemistry, epidemiology, to structural biology and bioinformatics to name just a few areas. And, it can involve basic fundamental biology, the use of AI and chemistry to clinical studies that evaluate new medicines in patients.

No matter the research focus, the goal is always the same, to advance human health. It may take a few months, a few years or for fundamental science, a few decades. Few people make the connection that biomedical science is medicine and that biomedical scientists are working today on the medicine of tomorrow. Our weekly 500-word newspaper columns and 2-minute radio shows and podcasts provide insights into a broad range of biomedical science topics.

Medical Discovery News is dedicated to explaining discoveries in biomedical research and their promise for the future of medicine.

Podcasts

Alternatively, you can copy and paste the following web address (URL) into iTunes as a new subscription:
https://www.medicaldiscoverynews.com/shows/audio/mdnews.rss

You can also search and subscribe to "Medical Discovery News" in the podcast section of iTunes.

The www.medicaldiscoverynews.com web site and Medical Discovery News radio program (Program) are made possible by The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB)as a community service and are intended to advance UTMB's mission of providing scholarly teaching, innovative scientific investigation, and state-of-the-art patient care in a learning environment to better the health of society and its commitment to the discovery of new innovative biomedical and health services knowledge leading to increasingly effective and accessible health care for the citizens of Texas.

All information provided on the web site and in the Program is for informational purposes only and is not intended for use as diagnosis or treatment of a health problem or as a substitute for consulting a licensed medical professional. Any information obtained by participating as a web site visitor or program listener is not intended to and should not be considered to constitute medical advice.

Thoughts and opinions expressed on the Program or on the website are those of the authors or guests and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UTMB. The provision of links to other websites is not to be construed as written or implied sponsorship or endorsement of such websites by UTMB.

Please contact Dr. David Niesel or Dr. Norbert Herzog via email with any concerns, suggestions or comments.

All rights are reserved to information provided on the website or other information sources. No part of these programs can be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transcribed in any form or by any means for personal or financial gained without the express written permission of Drs. Niesel and Dr. Herzog.