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.

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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