United States: Experts are sounding alarms that pregnant women in the world are now more sensitive to global warming, and the effects are not only from heat stress.
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Several researchers have clearly shown that the conditions resulting from heat not only become deadly for the majority of people but also are the causes of pregnancy complications and the development of fatal diseases in pregnant women and their unborn children.
During pregnancy, pregnant women are vulnerable to getting infected by viruses and conditions in the environment. One of the threats comes from tiny insects, such as mosquitoes, which can spread several types of diseases.
Some of those diseases are very rare incidents and include West Nile and the eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). However, the diseases that they bring are very dangerous and, at other times, fatal to the whole populace.
Other diseases are prevalent in people residing in tropical climates include Oropouche virus disease, also known as ‘sloth fever,’ and Zika virus, which is fatal to pregnant women, CBS News cited.
Global warming bringing more diseases – Experts
Our planet is getting warmer, mainly because of increased reliance on those fuel sources that emit pollutants that warm the Earth. The seasonal mosquito biting rates are on the rise, as is evident from the increased temperatures, elongating the disease susceptible period for the vulnerable groups.
However, this is only a small fraction of the mosquito risk compared to the vast danger that pregnant women are exposed to due to extremely hot temperatures.
According to doctors at the Association of American Medical Colleges, “Climate change hurts women more,” and “Extreme weather is linked to pregnancy complications, increased violence, and inescapable exposure to pollution and heat,” CBS News reported.
Why are pregnant women more vulnerable?
When pregnant women are bitten by malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, it’s not only an annoyance, but there are too many direct threats to the fetus.
While these cases do remain rare in the US, the CDC says West Nile, Zika, and Oropouche viruses are all possible threats to pregnant people, with the latter two being especially perilous.
West Nile virus, the most prevalent vector-borne disease in the continental United States, can be passed from mosquitoes to a fetus, but the likelihood is low, and the CDC says only a few newborn infections have been reported.