Deadly tropical diseases such as malaria could be in Ireland by 2030 as the effects of climate change take hold, a report claimed today.
A look ahead to what life will be like here in the next 24 years by health and engineering experts revealed people may face chronic health problems brought on by seasonal extremes in our weather.
Skin cancer, heat stress and meningitis brought on by the West Nile Virus could become commonplace after years of hot dry summers, while old people will be at even greater risk of hypothermia during harsh winters.
The report, A Picture of Health 2030, Engineering the Future of Health and Medicine, also forecast a third of us would be obese leading to increased susceptibility to diabetes, heart problems, kidney failure and gangrene.
It stated: "Climate change may mean that diseases such as malaria and West Nile virus could become established here, and that winter hypothermia and summer dehydration are increasingly common, especially for the growing numbers of older people in the community."
The last outbreak of malaria in Ireland was in Cork city in the 1850s, and the disease, widespread across Africa, Asia and South America, now kills over one million people every year, more than it did three decades ago.
The study, published by Engineers Ireland, also warned about immigrants carrying other diseases to Ireland. "The arrival of new residents from outside Europe is introducing many previously unknown diseases and conditions and poses special challenges for physicians and pathologists," it stated.
Experts said diseases such as sickle-cell anaemia, prevalent in west Africa and previously unheard of in Ireland, is now being seen in our hospitals.
PA