Some infectious diseases saw a huge surge in 2024, with the spread attributed, in part, to climate change, declining vaccination rates and the advent of new pathogen variants.
The findings, part of a preliminary analysis by London-based disease forecasting firm Airfinity, seek to renew the focus on the rise of preventable and climate-sensitive diseases, as well as a coordinated global response.
By late December, the world saw dengue cases jump to a new record of over 13 million, more than double last year’s number as infections nearly tripled in Central and South America, and killed almost 10,000 globally this year. Cases of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, rose almost 10 times the total number of 2023. Many others such as mpox, oropouche fever and poliomyelitis were also on the rise.
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