WEBINAR: VACCINES – CHALLENGE AND FUTURE
The team of “Astra Forum” Foundation in partnership with WHO – Bulgaria held the November webinar of the sequence “Vaccines school”. The lecturer was professor Radostina Aleksandrova, doctor of biology from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
“CLIMATE CHANGES, INFECTIOUS DISEASES, VACCINES AND CHALLENGES TO HUMAN HEALTH” IS THE TOPIC PRESENTED BY PROFESSOR ALEKSANDROVA.
“According to the data provided by the European Environment Agency (EEA) the average temperature of earth surface has increased with 0,74 degrees C in the 20 th century, the sea level increases with 1,8 mm annually since 1961 onwards, and the arctic marine ice shrinks with 2,7% per decade. More and more often we witness extreme and abnormal phenomena such as heat waves, floods and drought.“
2023 year is the warmest year of history, professor Aleksandrova shared. “We expect that the interval from 2023 to 2027 would be the warmest five-year period ever registered. Climate change has been recognized by the WHO as an important engine of the occurring problems that endanger food and fodder safety, plant, animal and human health.”
Aleksandrova expects that between 2030 and 2050 climate change would cause 250 000 additional death cases annually globally because of malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and thermal stress. She explained that changes would accelerate threats for public health, especially when it comes to infectious diseases.
The specialist presented data from the research in “Nature Climate Change” in 2022. The research concluded that 58 % of the infectious diseases mankind is facing were deteriorated at a time of climate dangers and in 16 % risk was sometimes mitigated. Additionally, it becomes clear that hundreds of mechanisms have been unveiled with which all this could happen.
“Global warming and precipitation changes support the wider spreading of vectors – mosquitos, ticks, birds, fleas and some mammals that take part in focal points of Dengue fever, plague, Lyme disease, Tick-borne encephalitis, Zika fever, malaria etc. As a result, the range of these diseases expands.”
Professor Aleksandrova says that the South and the South-Eastern part of Europe are exposed to the risk to become some of the areal of the mosquitos Anopheles, whereas some species have already been found in Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Balkans. “Countries, including France, Greece, Spain, Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine could get more locally transmitted infections with Plasmodium throughout climate changes.“
The expert explained that according to the forecasts until 2030 we expect 10 % more diarrhoea diseases that impact mainly small children. The other thing we could expect is water pollution, correspondingly fruit and vegetable pollution. “The increased temperature and continuous solar radiation increase the number of cholera cases and on the other hand low temperatures favour the flu dissemination.“
She reminded that as global warming progresses, the issue with water shortage would get more and more severe.
ICE MELTING
“What is troublesome is melting the eternal frozen land, which could introduce us to ancient viruses and bacteria that have accumulated throughout time.” Heating and ocean water becoming more acidic could impact the reproduction of some marine species, just like mussels for example, as well as liveliness and disease-causing potential of human pathogens present in marine water and seafood.
According to a publication in the magazine “Science Translational Medicine”, we are entering a “new era of infectious diseases’ risk in a warmer and sicker world”.
Professor Aleksandrova reminded us that viruses destroy 30-50% of microorganisms in the ocean every day. This provides plankton with food that produces oxygen. “Viruses are the genetic bank of our planet.”
“VACCINES: CHALLENGES, LESSONS, SUCCESS STORIES AND FUTURE” IS THE NEXT TOPIC PRESENTED BY THE SPECIALIST.
“The vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 is an example of success yet an illustration of problems.” She reminded us that vaccines are the pharmaceutical product subjected to the strictest safety protocols since these are administered on healthy individuals. “Modern vaccines have excellent safety profile yet some people very rarely experience side effects after vaccination.”
Safety of HBV vaccine has been rated very high “Nevertheless in the last two decades after the start of mass vaccination campaigns against HBV, there were messages about the occurrence of some autoimmune diseases.”
