The World Health Organisation issued a warning on Friday that dengue fever infections might nearly reach record levels this year, in part because climate change is helping the mosquitoes that carry the disease.

According to WHO, dengue rates are rising globally, with recorded cases increasing eight-fold since 2000 to 4.2 million in 2022.

According to a health ministry report from March, the illness was discovered for the first time ever in the capital city of Sudan, Khartoum, while instances have increased across Europe and Peru has declared a state of emergency in most of the country.

Dengue is the tropical disease that is growing the fastest in the world, and the WHO issued a “pandemic threat” warning in January.

Dr. Raman Velayudhan, a specialist at the WHO’s control of neglected tropical diseases branch, told journalists in Geneva on Friday that around half of the world’s population is currently at risk.

According to Velayudhan over a video link, the number of cases reported to WHO reached an all-time high in 2019 with 5.2 million cases in 129 countries. With the Asian monsoon season playing a major role, the world is on course for “4 million plus” cases this year.

According to him, there have already been near to 3 million cases reported throughout the Americas, and alarm has been raised about the southern expansion to Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru.

Before releasing mosquitoes into the wild, Argentina, which has experienced one of the worst dengue outbreaks in recent memory, sterilises them using radiation that changes their DNA.

“The American region certainly shows it is bad and we hope the Asian region may be able to control it,” Velayudhan said.

According to the WHO, since the majority of cases are asymptomatic, recorded instances of the illness, which causes fever and muscle discomfort, only make up a small portion of all infections worldwide. Less than 1% of people die from it.

It is believed that a warmer environment will aid mosquito reproduction and make it easier for the virus to spread throughout mosquitoes’ bodies. Velayudhan listed several causes for the rise in the movement of people and products as well as urbanisation and related sanitary issues.

He said that it was too early to determine how the heatwave gripping the northern hemisphere will effect the disease’s spread.

The mosquito is a very intelligent insect and can reproduce in water storage containers where the temperature doesn’t rise that high, despite the fact that temperatures over 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) “should kill the mosquito more than breeding it.”

(Adapted from ThePrint.in)