Mysterious Flesh-Eating Parasites Are Slowly Infecting the US Due to Worsening Climate Crisis

Laura Gaither and her family enjoyed their summer vacation three years ago at Panama City Beach, Florida. The 35-year-old Alabama resident felt something stinging her legs and spotted small black bugs on her skin while washing sand off her feet one day.

Gaither shook them off, and when she informed locals about the bites, they told her she had most certainly been attacked by sand flies.

Mysterious Insect Bites

Gaither's five children had also been bitten, but she was unconcerned. The markings on their legs and arms resembled those left by ant or mosquito bites, which can cause burning and itching but normally go away within a week.

Gaither returned home two weeks later to see that the bites had turned into tiny open sores. They became worse over the next few weeks, but when Gaither took her kids to the doctor, "he simply chalked it up to eczema," she said.

Gaither eventually took her little daughter, who had the most serious illness, to Children's of Alabama's emergency department, where she was examined for fungal and bacterial infections. The results were negative, and the doctors' suggested antifungal and steroid topical treatments were unsuccessful. In the meantime, the ulcers grew bigger and more painful.

Gaither began her own study and discovered cutaneous leishmaniasis, a flesh-eating illness (pronounced leash-ma-NYE-a-sis). More than 20 types of Leishmania parasites cause this skin condition.

It may be transferred to people by biting certain sandflies after the flies have been infected by animals whose blood the insects feed on, typically rodents in the United States. Sand flies flourish on hot sandy beaches and in rural regions, and Gaither was told that they were particularly numerous in Florida in 2018.

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Leishmania

Leishmania is a parasitic infection that feeds on the flesh of the afflicted host. According to the US National Institutes of Health, it causes the disease Leishmaniasis, endemic to 92 countries worldwide and generates around two million new cases each year, with 70,000 people dying.

As a result of climate change and human disturbance of these parasites' natural environment, researchers now fear that the disease might spread to North American locations as well. In tropical areas, the illness is already present. Kala azar is the Indian name for the illness (Visceral leishmaniasis).

If bitten by infected sand flies, a human can get infected with the Leishmania parasites. The parasites infect sandflies when they feed on the blood of afflicted rats, according to experts. Leishmaniasis is a disease with many different forms due to the many parasites that cause it. Lesions to ulcers on the visible areas of the body, such as the arms, legs, and face, are common symptoms.

Another type of the disease can produce fevers that come and go, weight loss, enlarged spleen and liver, and severe anemia. Some forms of the condition can be treated gently, but treating it as a bacterial infection can worsen. Occasionally, the illness will heal on its own.

Reaching the US Because of Climate Change

According to a 2010 research, the disease-causing parasite was projected to reach several states in the United States by 2020. According to the experts, approximately 27 million North Americans will be in danger of illness by 2080.

The parasites are now prevalent in Texas and Oklahoma, but new research suggests they may also be found in other states, including Florida. While the number of cases of leishmaniasis contracted in the United States is presently small, it is expected to grow shortly: As climate change shifts rodent and sand fly habitat northward, experts warn that more people in the United States will be exposed to various types of flesh-eating parasites in the future.

"Climate change has a significant correlation with the spread of zoonotic illness," said research author and ecology professor Victor Sánchez-Cordero of Mexico's National Autonomous University. "It's possible that instances of human leishmaniasis will emerge in the United States where none previously existed." As far north as North Dakota, at least one instance has already been documented.

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