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Falling vaccination rates, weakened immune systems and climate change are fuelling a resurgence of at least 13 diseases around the world, including a rare flesh-eating bacteria that can kill people within 48 hours. Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is on the rise in Japan, Europe, Australia and the US, according to research from Bloomberg and Airfinity, an analytics firm. Using data from 60 organisations and public health agencies, researchers found that in 44 countries at least one infectious disease – among them measles, chickenpox, whooping cough, the flu, tuberculosis, polio and cholera – is at least ten times worse than the pre-pandemic baseline. Airfinity’s main concern remains avian flu. According to Jackie Buchanan, the firm’s lead virus analyst, this has the greatest chance of becoming the next pandemic.
