The Impact of Climate on Disease Emergence, Transmission and Spread - Essay Example

The impact of climate on disease emergence, transmission, and spread: 1) Climate change and increased climatic variability are particularly likely to affect vector-borne diseases (Table 1). The influence of climate on vector-borne diseases can be explained by the fact that the arthropod vectors of these diseases are ectothermic (cold-blooded) and, therefore, subject to the effects of fluctuating temperatures on their development, reproduction, behavior, and population dynamics 3,7,99–106.

Temperature also can affect pathogen development within vectors and interact with humidity to influence vector survival and, hence, vectorial capacity.2) The seasonality and amount of precipitation in an area also can strongly influence the availability of breeding sites for mosquitoes and other species that have aquatic immature stages. For those diseases, that are both vector-borne and zoonotic (i.e., have vertebrate reservoirs other than humans), climatic variables can affect the distribution and abundance of vertebrate host species.

This, in turn, can affect vector population dynamics and disease transmission106.