Details:

Alternative Title:
Environ Health Perspect
Personal Author:
Mills, James N. ; Gage, Kenneth L. ; Khan, Ali S.
Mills, James N. ; Gage, Kenneth L. ; Khan, Ali S. Less -
Description:
Background

Because of complex interactions of climate variables at the levels of the pathogen, vector, and host, the potential influence of climate change on vector-borne and zoonotic diseases (VBZDs) is poorly understood and difficult to predict. Climate effects on the nonvector-borne zoonotic diseases are especially obscure and have received scant treatment.

Objective

We described known and potential effects of climate change on VBZDs and proposed specific studies to increase our understanding of these effects. The nonvector-borne zoonotic diseases have received scant treatment and are emphasized in this paper.

Data sources and synthesis

We used a review of the existing literature and extrapolations from observations of short-term climate variation to suggest potential impacts of climate change on VBZDs. Using public health priorities on climate change, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we developed six specific goals for increasing understanding of the interaction between climate and VBZDs and for improving capacity for predicting climate change effects on incidence and distribution of VBZDs.

Conclusions

Climate change may affect the incidence of VBZDs through its effect on four principal characteristics of host and vector populations that relate to pathogen transmission to humans: geographic distribution, population density, prevalence of infection by zoonotic pathogens, and the pathogen load in individual hosts and vectors. These mechanisms may interact with each other and with other factors such as anthropogenic disturbance to produce varying effects on pathogen transmission within host and vector populations and to humans. Because climate change effects on most VBZDs act through wildlife hosts and vectors, understanding these effects will require multidisciplinary teams to conduct and interpret ecosystem-based studies of VBZD pathogens in host and vector populations and to identify the hosts, vectors, and pathogens with the greatest potential to affect human populations under climate change scenarios.


Subjects:
[+]
Animals Anthropogenic Disturbance Climate Change Disease Vectors Ecosystem Host-Pathogen Interactions Humans Infectious Diseases Public Health Research Design Reservoir Review Vector Vector-borne Disease Wildlife Zoonoses Zoonotic Disease
Source:
Environ Health Perspect. 118(11):1507-1514.
Document Type:
Journal Article
Collection(s):
CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:d4b958150ebb460628d0be4290b375345c8ef9a6d94e45d1f0880d24a1c01bf2
Download URL:
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/3806/cdc_3806_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

• 	ehp-118-1507.nxml	txt
  	ehp-118-1507f1.gif	gif
  	ehp-118-1507f1.jpg	jpeg
  	license.txt	txt

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