Examining the interplay between a warming planet and other factors on infectious diseases.
By Marie Rosenthal
Editor of Human and Animal Health Publications
A perfect storm is brewing, brought on by a warming climate, extreme weather and a host of other factors that will have a strong impact on infectious diseases.
Medical societies, including the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the American Medical Society and the American Society of Microbiology, have been sounding the alarm about the effects of climate change on human health, and several meetings this year, including ASM Microbe and IDWeek, are giving the podium to people researching the effects of climate change on infectious diseases.
At ASM Microbe, Rachel Harold, MD, a consultant with the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, in Washington D.C., applauded ASM “for making climate change a priority, their commitment to leveraging the field of microbiology for climate change response and solutions, and [for having] a strong call to action to the microbiology community.”
The calls to action aren’t coming only from the medical profession. Increases in temperature, changes in precipitation, more frequent and intense storms, and rising sea levels “endanger our health by affecting our food and water sources, the air we breathe, the weather we experience and our interactions with the built and natural environments,” experts wrote in a 2016 intergovernmental report (health2016.globalchange.gov).
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE AT INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIAL EDITION (IDSE)
