Malaria Makes a Comeback

Malaria Makes a Comeback

January 19 - Sandwiched between temperate Europe and African heat,
Italy is on the front line of climate change and is witnessing a rise
in tropical diseases such as malaria and tick-borne encephalitis, a
new report says.

Italy was declared free of malaria in 1970, but it is making a
comeback, said the Italian environmental organization Legambiente.
Tick-borne encephalitis, a virus that attacks the nerve system, is
also on the way back. While only 18 cases had been reported before
1993, 100 have been since, mostly around Venice.

A third ailment, visceral leishmaniasis, carried by sandflies and
potentially fatal, is expanding rapidly, the report added. Cases in
Italy have risen to 150 a year from 50 before 2000, with the southern
region of Campania a hot spot.

Of six sustained droughts in Italy in the past 60 years four have
occurred since 1990. The average temperature has increased by 0,4
Celsius in the north in 20 years and by 0,7 Celsius in the south. Ten
million hectares are at risk of desertification.

Twenty percent of the fish now swimming in the Mediterranean,
including barracuda, are types that have migrated from the Red Sea as
water temperatures rise.

"We are at the southern edge of the globe's temperate area and that is
why Italy is being particularly hit by the collapse of the climatic
equilibrium, said Legambiente's director general, Francesco Ferrante.

o==============================o

Ah...Non mi sento tanto bene.

Visiting Italy? Your Only In Italy Guide to Survival:

1.) Protect Yourself: If you are traveling overseas to a malaria-risk
area like Italy, visit your health care provider four weeks to six
weeks before leaving for any necessary vaccinations, as well as a
prescription for an anti malarial drug.

2.) Wear insect repellent to prevent mosquito, other insect bites and
Italian vendors pushing expensive souvenir crap. To prevent malaria,
wear insect repellent if outdoors between dusk and dawn when the
Italian mosquito that transmits malaria is singing and biting.

3.) Wear long pants and long-sleeved clothing (Italian designer
clothes are optional). A comfortable tick collar would not hurt.

4.) On humid days, lock yourselves in your hotel rooms.

5.) Several parts of southern Italy may have the climatic, social and
economic aspects of deep Africa. Wear a mosquito net over your head if
you cannot believe where you are.

6.) Avoid marital and family disputes. Example: The deaths of two
members of the noble Florentine Medici family attributed to malaria
instead were a result of arsenic poisoning. The team of experts from
the University of Florence believe that Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici
decided that his older brother Francesco was a peckerhead and unfit to
govern. He didn't like Francesco's ugly second wife Bianca Capello,
either. It only took 420 years to solve the crimes.

Buon Viaggio.

"Only In Italy" Italian News & Humor
http://www.OnlyInItaly.com

Subscribe today and feed your sense of intellectual superiority by
reading and wondering how Italy still survives after 59 governments in
60 years!

.