Climate change has resulted in decreased air quality, severe weather events, and many other environmental problems, but a CDC recent panel warns of a new consequence of global warming: alterations in the world’s climate may lead to infectious diseases spreading to areas where they are not commonly seen. Rising world temperatures are changing local weather events, and warmer weather can give rise to mosquito and insect populations, which spread diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. The impact of climate change will be widespread, and there is indication that preparing for prospective health risks is necessary. Although it will be challenging to predict exactly how climate change will change disease incidence, there is a lot travelers can do to adapt to changing conditions.

Impact on Human Health

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A new rabies treatment may help save the lives of those infected with the deadly disease, especially in the developing world.

Currently, the best way to treat rabies is through vaccination before exposure or before symptoms begin to set in after being exposed to the disease. However, a new late stage treatment shows promise, and it may be able to bring people back to a healthy state after physical symptoms set in.

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Being sick with the flu is miserable. Once sick, all anyone wants is to be flu-free as quickly as possible. For years, Tamiflu has promised to assist with just that. Since it was released, however, the drug has been under a microscope of criticism with some claiming it is nothing more than a placebo. Contrary to what its critics say, a recent study led by doctors from the University of Michigan and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has shown that Tamiflu reduces the duration of flu symptoms by 21 percent compared to a placebo.

The study reviewed files from nine previous trials, a sample size of 4,328 patients, to determine how effective Tamiflu had been overall. Of the nine trials, only one showed recovery time being equal to or greater than that of the placebo, and the other trials showed reductions in recovery times over the placebo, with total recovery times ranging from 65 hours to as low as 9 hours.

“[It] is not a perfect drug but does what you might expect of an antiviral given relatively late in the course of an acute infection,” said Peter Openshaw, a respiratory infections expert at Imperial College in London who was interviewed by Reuters about the findings.

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U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. James Stewart/Release

A new mandate from the United States Air Force requires all active-duty airmen who will be stationed in Japan or the Republic of Korea for more than 30 days to receive a Japanese Encephalitis vaccination.

The mandate, which was signed into effect by Air Force Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Thomas Travis on January 9, went into effect on February 1.

Although the Japanese Encephalitis vaccination has been available since 2009, it was not made mandatory by the US Air Force until now. Normally, the military mandates that service men and women receive all vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control for the destination at which they will be stationed, and the new requirement is meant to bring USAF standards in line with CDC protocol.

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Courtesy of Melissa Johnson on Flickr

Imagine going to your doctor for what you thought would be a routine check-up only to be diagnosed with HIV. That is exactly what happened to a 74-year-old man in a Cambodian village last month. When the unidentified man’s test came back positive, he immediately spoke with family and friends and asked them to be tested as well. Within a few weeks, over 200 cases of HIV were diagnosed in the area, and the majority of these cases were connected to an unlicensed doctor in the town of Rhoka, where the 74-year-old and his family reside.

Since the discovery of the infections, the unlicensed doctor, identified by authorities as Yem Chrin, has been charged with murder and deliberately infecting individuals with HIV. Whether Chrin maliciously infected his patients is as yet unknown, but investigators have found evidence that the doctor re-used needles on multiple patients, leading to cross contamination and widespread infection.

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