5 dangerous diseases that have made a comeback in recent years
Deadly diseases are returning in all countries of the world, mainly because children do not receive vaccines and because of global warming.
5. Measles
Measles is spreading to every country in the world. In 2018 alone, more than 140,000 people died from the vaccine-preventable disease. Early estimates for 2019 suggest that the death rate has increased significantly since then.
Measles is probably the most easily transmitted virus and last year alone 10 million people were affected.
Most fatal cases are in children under the age of 5 who are not vaccinated.
4. Plague
The plague has also returned in its most terrifying form.
Whether bubonic, septicemic, or pneumonic, the plague is caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, which killed an estimated 25 million Europeans in the 1300s and is still endemic in the western United States.
Today, even with antibiotics, the plague still kills about 1 in 10 people who contract it (the bubonic plague is considered the least dangerous of the three).
Symptoms of the plague include fever, and (in more extreme cases) difficulty breathing.
3. Infections that are resistant to antibiotics
Overuse and misuse of antibiotics often exacerbates the problem by encouraging pathogens to make themselves more resistant to treatments.
For example, tuberculosis is among the 10 deadliest diseases in the world, and every year hundreds of thousands of cases of the bacterial disease are becoming resistant to treatments.
2. Sexually transmitted diseases
Cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia have recently reached peaks in the US, with some even having deadly consequences.
Reports show that newborn deaths linked to syphilis have increased by 22% from 2017 to 2018.
Gonorrhea cases are over 580,000 diagnoses (the highest figure since 1991) and chlamydia cases are also at record levels.
1.Cholera
Cholera can kill patients within hours if left untreated, and scientists say the disease will spread even more in the coming years.
