Investigating the Links between Climate Change, Vector-Borne Diseases, and Public Health Outcomes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56294/hl2022122Keywords:
Investigate, Significant, Environment, Connections, Transmission, SeasonalityAbstract
Introduction: The present study aimed to explore the associations between climate change, vector-borne diseases and health outcomes. Contemporary climate change has drawn growing recognition from the global public health community as an important global public health hazard (1). Vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue, and Lyme disease also pose significant public health threats, and we know that they, too, are sensitive to climatic changes. But the exact links among climate change, vector-borne diseases and public health outcomes remain poorly characterized.
Methods: The goal of this study was to determine whether climate change, vector-borne diseases, and public health outcomes are connected in some way. However, the role climate change plays to the environment and human health made it a serious global public health threat (2). Vector-borne diseases, including malaria, dengue, and Lyme disease, are another important category of high-impact diseases and are also known to be affected by climate change. But the direct links between climate change, vector-borne diseases, and public health outcomes are poorly understood.
Results: Overall, the results of the study indicate that climate change plays a very important role in the distribution, seasonality and transmission of vector borne diseases. Rising temperatures and shifting weather patterns are associated with the expansion of the geographic range of vectors, causing increased transmission of diseases like malaria, dengue fever, and Lyme disease[3]. In addition, adapting measures to control disease will be critical in response to active ecological changes driven by climate change.
Conclusions: This research draws attention to the pressing need for international action on climate change to limit the impacts on vector-borne diseases and public health. Therefore, vector-borne diseases will continue to rise with little to no processes in place to quell its influence without climate change remediation measures and it would lead to dire consequences with respect to human health and well-being. Further research is needed to not only understand but also identify mechanisms to mitigate the impacts of climate change on vector-borne disease and human health.
References
[1] Coalson, J. E., Anderson, E. J., Santos, E. M., Madera Garcia, V., Romine, J. K., Luzingu, J. K., ... & Ernst, K. C. (2021). The complex epidemiological relationship between flooding events and human outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases: a scoping review. Environmental Health Perspectives, 129(9), 096002.
[2] Eder, M., Cortes, F., Teixeira de Siqueira Filha, N., Araújo de França, G. V., Degroote, S., Braga, C., ... & Turchi Martelli, C. M. (2018). Scoping review on vector-borne diseases in urban areas: transmission dynamics, vectorial capacity and co-infection. Infectious diseases of poverty, 7, 1-24.
[3] Ryan, S. J. (2020). Mapping thermal physiology of vector-borne diseases in a changing climate: shifts in geographic and demographic risk of suitability. Current environmental health reports, 7, 415-423.
[4] Müller, R., Reuss, F., Kendrovski, V., & Montag, D. (2019). Vector-borne diseases. Biodiversity and health in the face of climate change, 67-90.
[5] Bartlow, A. W., Manore, C., Xu, C., Kaufeld, K. A., Del Valle, S., Ziemann, A., ... & Fair, J. M. (2019). Forecasting zoonotic infectious disease response to climate change: mosquito vectors and a changing environment. Veterinary sciences, 6(2), 40.
[6] Medlock, J. M., Hansford, K. M., Vaux, A. G., Cull, B., Gillingham, E., & Leach, S. (2018). Assessment of the public health threats posed by vector-borne disease in the United Kingdom (UK). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(10), 2145.
[7] Otten, A., Fazil, A., Chemeris, A., Breadner, P., & Ng, V. (2020). Prioritization of vector-borne diseases in Canada under current climate and projected climate change. Microbial Risk Analysis, 14, 100089.
[8] Christofferson, R. C., Parker, D. M., Overgaard, H. J., Hii, J., Devine, G., Wilcox, B. A., ... & Manning, J. E. (2020). Current vector research challenges in the greater Mekong subregion for dengue, Malaria, and Other Vector-Borne Diseases: A report from a multisectoral workshop March 2019. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 14(7), e0008302.
[9] Muurlink, O. T., & Taylor-Robinson, A. W. (2020). The ‘lifecycle’of human beings: a call to explore vector-borne diseases from an ecosystem perspective. Infectious Diseases of Poverty, 9, 1-5.
[10] Sweileh, W. M. (2020). Bibliometric analysis of peer-reviewed literature on climate change and human health with an emphasis on infectious diseases. Globalization and health, 16(1), 44.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Rajesh Kumar Lenka , Indu Singh , Sujayaraj Samuel Jayakumar (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The article is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Unless otherwise stated, associated published material is distributed under the same licence.
