Climate change raises Europe infectious disease threat

NORWICH, England, Sep 4 (Reuters) Diseases not normally seen in Europe are now starting to appear because of the world's changing climate, a scientist said today.

Professor Paul Hunter, of the University of East Anglia in England, told a British science conference that erratic weather that will cause flooding and drought will also lead to changes in the incidence of infectious disease.

''There are already significant indications of disease burden occurring in Europe as a result of climate change,'' he told the conference.

An illness called Vibrio vulnificus which is caused by a marine organism particularly in the Gulf states of the United States has been reported in three people swimming in the Baltic Sea.

A death also occurred in Denmark, according to Hunter.

The disease, which can be caught by eating shellfish, or through swimming in infected water with an open wound, causes a skin infection and other symptoms and can be fatal. The organism usually lives in waters that are 20 degrees Centigrade (68 Fahrenheit) or higher.

People on the Italian coast have also been infected by an organism called Ostreopsis ovata that has been able to extend its habitat because of warmer sea waters.

''Over 100 holidaymakers have been reported as taken to hospital with a variety of symptoms, including diarrhoea, skin rashes and hay fever type illnesses,'' Hunter told the BA Festival of Science conference.

Congo Crimea Haemorrhagic Fever has also caused problems in recent years in areas where it had not previously been a problem.

''The view is that it is not because of warmer summers but because winters are not as cold as they used to be,'' Hunter said.

The insect-borne disease causes bleeding from the skin, mouth and nose.

''There are already very clear signals that infectious diseases are changing as a result of climate change,'' he said.

Reuters KR VP0828