It’s difficult to identify an area of public health that will not be affected by climate change, Dr Jeremy Hess from the University of Washington told the ATS meeting.
“The direct effects of climate change include increased heat stress, floods and drought, and more intense storms,” he said.
“Indirect effects include worsening of air pollution, wider spread of disease vectors including mosquitoes, food insecurity and under-nutrition, displacement of populations, and effects on mental health.”
Seasonal patterns of common respiratory diseases such as influenza provide a clear example of the links between climate and health.
“Many other diseases are sensitive to temperature, rain, humidity and sunlight exposure,” Dr Hess said.
“However, ‘climate’ is a defined by patterns over 30 years or more, so assessing the interactions between climate and health is complex. It’s more pragmatic to say that a disease is ‘climate sensitive’.”
While influenza is more common in winter in temperate climates, flu epidemics tend to be more persistent in tropical regions and more common in humid or rainy seasons. “Some of these local dynamics may become more favourable with climate change, rather than worse, but there is no question that the patterns will change,” Dr Hess said.
Climate-sensitive viral infections also include respiratory syncytial virus and hantaviruses. The seasonality of hantavirus is probably mediated through the effect of seasons on the activity of rodents which who carry the disease.