It really should be no surprise that climate change is a huge threat. Climate change has huge consequences not only on our environment, but also our health and well-being. Yet, sadly, a sizable portion of our society still believe it is not happening and that man made activity is not responsible for its occurrence.
Scientific American reports on an August 2014 Pew Research Center poll. 87% of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) scientists believe climate change is caused mostly due to human activity. Only 50% of the public, however, acknowledges that humans have a direct role in rising temperatures. What you probably did not know though is that climate change affects all aspects of our public health, including the transmission of infectious diseases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been very diligent in monitoring the effects of rising temperatures and the incidence of infectious diseases. Reporting on public health and infectious disease research, the WHO presents a very interesting question: "If climatic conditions alone change, how would this change the potential transmission of the disease?" Using mathematical models that describe the interaction of climate and biological factors (i.e. vector breeding, survival, biting rates, etc.), they found that this model has has been helpful in predicting how climate affects incidence of malaria and dengue fever.
"The malaria modelling shows that small temperature increases can greatly affect transmission potential. Globally, temperature increases of 2-3 degrees Celsius would increase the number of people who, in climatic terms, are at risk of malaria by around 3-5%, i.e. several hundred million. Further, the seasonal duration of malaria would increase in many currently endemic areas.
Well established scientific research presented by the
Center for Science Education have stated the effects that rising temperatures have on Dengue Fever transmission.
"Although dengue is most common in tropical regions, with warmer climate, mosquito vectors would be present for a larger portion of the year in North America and the incidence of dengue would likely increase there as well.
If neither of these diseases scare you enough, rest assured here's one that will. Melting of the permafrost, likely due to increasing temperatures, has resulted in the resurrection of
ancient viruses. While the virus does not affect human beings, thankfully, who knows what other pathogens could potentially be found underground. If we do find these viruses upon melting of the permafrost, they're most likely to be ancient, in which we would not have adequate resistance to fighting a possible infection.
It is way past time that we act on climate change. So far, though, our Republican dominated Congress has done very little address this issue. Even more scary, a number of the GOP candidates have brushed off climate change as not real, resorting to the typical "I'm not a scientist" routine when asked on the question. We need to act and we need to start acting now! As Bill Nye said, "Climate change is happening, humans are causing it, and I think this is perhaps the most serious environmental issue facing us."