Heat endangers health and also leads to more deaths in Austria due to the climate crisis. But it’s not just climate change that threatens our health; according to the “Climate and Health” report from the Agency for Health and Food Security (AGES), cases of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks are also increasing. AGES recommends better monitoring; there is a clear need to catch up across Germany.
More current and more informative monitoring of heat mortality (heat MOMO) than is currently the case is intended to make the danger of heat clear and to make it easier to take measures against it. Currently, the number of heat-related excess deaths throughout Germany is only determined afterwards after each summer season. For example, hospitals, nursing services and general practitioners could be informed in a timely manner about the high need for care if data on excess mortality due to heat in the summer season are published weekly for the various regions.
Research is being conducted into the division into ‘climate regions’
“We are currently assessing a geographical classification that makes sense for Austria,” says Bernhard Benka of AGES. The classification of “NUTS3 regions” common for EU statistics would be appropriate for this purpose; That would be 35 regions in Austria, for example Vienna, the Waldviertel, Upper Carinthia, the Innviertel and East Tyrol.
After a test phase in the summer period of 2024, in which heat-related deaths are presented numerically by sex, age groups, calendar weeks and geographical allocation, an Austria-wide monitoring program for standardized and automated reporting of heat-related excess mortality should take place. established and publicly reported from 2025, Benka explains.
More and more cases of dengue fever
Compared to other countries, according to the experts in the report, there is also a need to catch up when it comes to monitoring mosquitoes and ticks. They warned of the increase in infectious diseases transmitted by ticks and mosquitoes, which previously only occurred in the tropics and can also survive in Europe due to climate change. These include Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, West Nile fever and dengue fever.
In addition, the native ticks, which were mainly found in eastern Austria before global warming, are spreading to the higher areas in the west of the country. This can make Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) more common. “For the future, it is therefore essential to introduce uniform tick and mosquito monitoring in Austria,” the experts wrote. This means that newly emerging genera that may carry previously unknown pathogens, such as the tropical giant tick, can be identified in a timely manner.
“Standardize monitoring nationally”
Benka compares the current mosquito and tick monitoring in Austria with a carpet of stains. “There are actually no federal rules about who is responsible for this,” he said. In the states, it has so far been managed by different institutions with varying intensity over time. Although AGES collected the results of the local monitoring programs and presented them on the homepage, the data situation was nevertheless “highly variable across Austria”.
The aim is to better understand the situation nationally with additional traps for mosquito eggs (ovitraps) and mosquito traps for adults. In addition, AGES is involved in a “Mosquito Alert App”. “If someone finds a mosquito and suspects it is a tiger mosquito, they can take a picture of it with their mobile phone and our experts will use the app to clarify whether it was actually a tiger mosquito or not,” Benka explains.
Giant ticks detected in Austria
“We also want to intensify tick monitoring in a similar way,” said the expert. For example, it would be important to accurately record the occurrence of the tropical giant tick in Austria. The disease was first discovered in Austria in 2018. “Research and monitoring of this vector is important for public health because it can transmit Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever viruses, coxials, Rickettsia aeschlimanni bacteria and equine babesia,” the report said.
Source: Krone
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