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There is an increased risk of some infectious diseases due to climate change. This risk is particularly increased in those diseases that are spread by mosquitoes and other insects and that appear in warm areas. These 'vector-borne' diseases include malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, and encephalitis. As temperatures warm, algal blooms could also occur more frequently, particularly in areas with polluted waters. This could therefore increase the frequency of diseases (such as cholera) that tend to accompany algal blooms (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2007).
Disease transmission seasons, in some locations where certain diseases already exist, could be prolonged by higher temperatures combined with favorable rainfall patterns. In other locations with reductions in rainfall, or temperatures that are too high for transmission, climate change could decrease transmission. For example, certain disease-carrying vectors, such as ticks that carry Lyme disease, require sufficient temperature and humidity levels to thrive. Humidity levels could be pushed either towards or away from optimum conditions for the survival rate of ticks by climate change (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2007).
The potential for an increase in the spread of diseases resulting from the expected continual rise in the average global temperatures will not only depend on climatic but also on non-climatic factors. The effectiveness of the public health system is the primary non-climatic factor affecting this issue (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2007).
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