Climate Change and the Rise of Infectious Disease in Developing Countries

Current environmental health problems that will likely exacerbate due to climate change include changes in air and water quality, and increase in parasite growth and chemical pollutants.

The earth’s climate has been changing and will continue to do so in the future. It is only going to keep on getting worse and it is getting to the point where humans will most likely end up in a situation of life threatening diseases and even death. Contagious diseases are spreading menacingly due to weather extremes as heat wave, droughts, cyclones, floods, and tornados (Dhaka). That is just the start of the effect of climate change and its consequences. Many scientists have already warned that millions of people would die in this century because of climate change unless the major reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is made (Dhaka). However, there are more than just reducing greenhouse gas emissions to help solve for climate change.

(WHO 2015) It is now generally acknowledged that the global climate is changing as the earth becomes warmer, in particular due to the burning of fossil fuels. Human health may be impacted by shifting the geographic range and seasonality of infectious diseases, possibly increasing vector borne disease rates, disturbance of food-producing ecosystems, and increasing the frequency of extreme weather events such as droughts, cyclones, floods and bush

Global warming is changing weather patterns - such as rain- and temperature. These native islanders are not only losing their homes and crops but they are also more susceptible to water borne and vector borne -carried in living creatures- diseases. Some vectors as a result of rain and temperature change could create a wider spread of these diseases. Many islands that do not have malaria, dengue, and other tropical disease could become breeding sites under certain climate changes. More extreme weather events might also cause more physical injuries not only to islanders but to other people. Many more physical injuries have already been noted in the the Pacific island States as the following statement in the behalf of CARICOM and Haiti,

Currently, one of the major problems in the world is the rapid change of our climate. Years of research and studies have linked climate change to the spreading and occurrence of many infectious diseases. Vectors and pathogens that were not able to spread to certain countries before because temperatures were too low for them to survive in are now being able to habituate these parts of the world because of how much warmer our planet is becoming. This is concerning to us because infectious diseases can increase death rates. Therefore, if our planet continues to get warmer, the more infectious diseases will spread, and the more humans will die. This research paper attempts to provide a better understanding on how diseases are spreading more

Unfortunately, for individuals in the developing world resources are lacking. It is individuals in these situations that are extremely vulnerable to potential exposure. Climate change is also impacting disease transmission. Large environmental areas are shrinking due to urban sprawl which is leading to increased populations density’s, increased pathogen load, decreased distributions, and a greater prevalence of disease (Mills, Gage, Khan, 2010). Thus, larger numbers of individuals are living in close proximity of disease vectors.

Food borne illnesses such as salmonella, shigellosis, and other bacteria related food poisonings will increase due to the rapid rise in temperature. These diseases can cause gastrointestinal problems, even death. An increase in rain flow causes flooding which can lead to an increase in food contamination. Water borne diseases Cryptosporidium and Giardia increase with heavy rainfall, and these parasites can be very harmful to the human body. Animal borne diseases such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus will increase as air temperature rises. Ticks and mosquito population will grow rapidly and conditions will be favorable for new strains of the diseases listed above. These diseases will have an effect on my career as a Forensic

From the article “Climate Change and Your Health” the author replies that Rising temperatures will likely lead to more frequent and severe heat waves, natural disasters, poor air quality and spreading diseases. For example, in the year of 2006 the heat within two weeks caused 655 deaths and in 1995 over 700 people died due to excessive heat in Chicago. Hot weather kills more Americans than any other despite disasters. Global warming also means 650 million people who live on or near land will be threatened by sea level rise. In the article “20 Countries Most At Risk From Sea Level Rise” it shows that “147 to 216 million people live on land that will be below sea level or regular flood levels by the end of the century”. This means that more than 200 million people may die because of global warming. In addition, people are more likely to get sick because of temperature changes. Most of the bugs like warm temperature especially the bugs like mosquitoes and flies. People always get bite by mosquitoes in summer, but can rarely see mosquitoes on winter or fall. Therefore global warming would cause summers become longer these insects like mosquitoes can keep active for longer seasons and also in wider areas. Insects like mosquitoes have capable of carrying and transmitting diseases like Dengue Fever which greatly increasing the risk of people to get sick. Rising temperatures are more likely result in

Global warming may increase the risk of some infectious diseases, like malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, and encephalitis. These diseases are spread by mosquitoes and other insects, and could become more common if a rise in temperature allows those insects to live farther north. Also, the increase in rainfall that is likely to occur with an increase in global temperature would serve to help increase the reproduction of the vectors. In February 1999, Britain's Institute of Animal Health linked outbreaks of the lethal horse fever virus in Africa to the El Nino phenomenon. The warming and increase in rainfall in Africa caused by El Nino led to many more horses being bitten by infected vectors. The scientists said their research shows this pattern is likely to happen with other vector-borne diseases when global warming occurs. Increased temperatures could also reduce the gestation periods of disease vectors, which could aid the breeding of strains resistant to pesticides. Scientists also hypothesize that algae

The influences of weather and climate on human health are significant and varied. Exposure to health hazards related to climate change affects different

According to scientific research, the average temperature of the earth has risen by between ten and twenty degrees Celsius (M.L. Weitzman, 2008). These high temperatures could well be described as a ‘recipe for disaster’, and could produce results that would be catastrophic on a global scale. What is more alarming however, is that there is already a lot of evidence of predicted results of climate change, for instance, in Australia especially, severe draughts have been common in farming areas in the last few decades, there has been an increase of intense and extreme weather events, for example floods, flash floods, tsunamis, earthquakes and tornados, almost all of the natural disasters listed have occurred for ‘unknown’ reasons in the past few years. Rises in sea water level and temperature due to higher acid levels caused by global warming, threaten the existence of species and in some areas, entire eco-systems resulting in the loss of natural biodiversity. ‘Climate change is pushing the world to the verge of environmental and economic collapse, whether global deniers want to believe it or not’ (N. Klein, 2011).

Sometimes this strange change can affect the lives of citizens. Heatwaves causing an increase in evaporation could be dangerous, leading to extreme weather events such as hurricanes, droughts, wildfires and other natural disasters. The increase in heat rising are fuels to storms, making them even more dangerous and of much greater damage done to the environment. Farmers are having trouble with growing their crops because of the change of weather and the urge to keep up with the patterns and unpredictable water supplies. Climate change also often prevents the world from transportation because of hot weather, flooding, and other extreme weather conditions. Young children, the elderly, and those who are already ill have a very low rate to adapt to higher temperatures and poor air quality. This leads to heart and respiratory diseases, including

Rising temperatures and increased Co2 levels in the atmosphere have increased the growing season and caused plants to produce more pollen then usual. “Marked increases in asthma and wheeze-related ED visits have been linked to high pollen concentrations in several studies” (Bernsetein and Rice, pg. 2). Global warming will also increase the likelihood of natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes increasing the spread of contagious diseases such as respiratory viruses and an example of this is Hurricane Katrina. Even though the chances a person is infected with these contagious diseases is slim because these natural disasters only affect a certain segment of the population they are still important because they have a high mortality

The author, Denchak, would like us to know that global warming is undoubtedly dangerous to our survival. Denchak explained that the hotter the weather is, the worse it will be for our environment. The author claims if global warming continues, it will be detrimental to our ecosystem and livelihood. Aliya Haq from the NRDC’s Clean Power Plan stated that weather disasters will increase due to how rapidly the weather is changing and how unnatural it is. Global emissions will make the temperature increase 8 degrees by the year 2100 if it continues to grow the way it is now. Furthermore, “...humans are the number one cause of the epidemic”, claims

The disasters of global warming struck the entire earth community. From the last century, our motherly earth rises 1 degree celsius on its average temperature (logos--Number and statics). People are having terrible heat stroke and other health problem like headache and fever. And according to World Health Organization in 2010, more than 135000000 people’s health suffered from this extreme misery from days to days (logos--Number and statics).