Global warming may worsen infectious disease

Global warming may worsen infectious disease

Global warming may worsen infectious disease

May 22, 2007

Outbreaks of infectious disease will likely worsen due to global warming, warn scientists at the 107th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Toronto.

“Environmental changes have always been associated with the appearance of new diseases or the arrival of old diseases in new places. With more changes, we can expect more surprises,” said Stephen Morse of Columbia University.

“Diseases carried by insects and ticks are likely to be affected by environmental changes because these creatures are themselves very sensitive to vegetation type, temperature, humidity etc. However, the direction of change — whether the diseases will increase or decrease — is much more difficult to predict, because disease transmission involves many factors, some of which will increase and some decrease with environmental change. A combination of historical disease records and present-day ground-based surveillance, remotely sensed (satellite) and other data, and good predictive models is needed to describe the past, explain the present and predict the future of vector-borne infectious diseases,” added David Rogers of Oxford University.

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF MALARIA. IMAGE COURTESY OF THE CDC. Malaria kills an estimated 700,000-2.7 million people each year, 75% of them African children. In 2002, malaria was the fourth cause of death in children in developing countries, causing 10.7% of all children’s deaths. RELATED ARTICLES Malaria linked to Amazon deforestation A pair studies in the Amazon rainforest suggest a link between deforestation and an increased risk of malaria. Global warming to fuel rise in asthma, malaria The Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, along with co-sponsors Swiss Re and the United Nations Development Programme, today released a study showing that climate change will significantly affect the health of humans and ecosystems and these impacts will have economic consequences. Article published by Rhett Butler Green, Health, Impact Of Climate Change, Malaria Print Special series Forest Trackers Bolivia’s El Curichi Las Garzas protected area taken over by land-grabbers Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation Poverty and plantations: Nigerian reserve struggles against the odds Logging, road construction continue to fuel forest loss in Papua New Guinea More articles Oceans Fewer fish and more rules lead to illegal catches, Italian fishers say Fishing by dodgy fleets hurts economies, jobs in developing countries: Report Warming seas push India’s fishers into distant, and more dangerous, waters No protection from bottom trawling for seamount chain in northern Pacific More articles Amazon Conservation Deforestation haunts top Peruvian reserve and its Indigenous communities Amid record-high fires across the Amazon, Brazil loses primary forests A web of front people conceals environmental offenders in the Amazon Brazil boosts protection of Amazon mangroves with new reserves in Pará state More articles Land rights and extractives Women weave a culture of resistance and agroecology in Ecuador’s Intag Valley Hyundai ends aluminum deal with Adaro Minerals following K-pop protest Brazil’s illegal gold trade takes a hammering, but persists underground Maluku bone collector unearths troubling consequence of coastal abrasion More articles Endangered Environmentalists Indonesian activists face jail over FB posts flagging damage to marine park Vietnamese environmentalist sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights Video: Five Tembé Indigenous activists shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’ More articles Indonesia's Forest Guardians Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists More articles Conservation Effectiveness The conservation sector must communicate better (commentary) Thailand tries nature-based water management to adapt to climate change Forest restoration to boost biomass doesn’t have to sacrifice tree diversity How scientists and a community are bringing a Bornean river corridor back to life More articles Southeast Asian infrastructure Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest More articles you're currently offline