• Learning about the connection between climate change and disease behavior can help guide diagnoses, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases says study.
• Physicians and practitioners urged to maintain a high index of suspicion of diseases on the move.
Image: FILE
Experts have called for more awareness and preparedness when dealing with the impact of climate change on the spread of infectious diseases.
In a study published in JAMA journal and reported in the Newswise website, they raised concern over the emergence and spread of harmful pathogens.
George Thompson, lead author of the Infectious diseases in a changing climate study, said clinicians need to be ready to deal with the changes in the infectious disease landscape.
Thompson, a professor at the UC Davis School of Medicine said learning about the connection between climate change and disease behaviour can help guide diagnoses, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases.
He urged physicians and practitioners to maintain a high index of suspicion of diseases on the move.
“I think with improvements in our understanding of the disease, there will be more testing and we'll miss fewer cases that way,” Thomson said.
The study says infectious diseases can be caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites. Many of these diseases are transmitted from animal to human or from human to human.
Vector-borne diseases are infectious diseases caused by pathogens carried by vectors like mosquitoes, fleas and ticks. Some diseases caused by vectors are dengue, malaria and Zika.
The study says changing rain patterns are expanding vectors’ range and their active periods. It links shorter, warmer winters and longer summers to more vector-borne diseases.
“We're seeing cases of tick-borne diseases in January and February. The tick season is starting earlier and with more active ticks in a wider range. This means that the number of tick bites is going up and with it, the tick-borne diseases,” said Matthew Phillips, an infectious diseases fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Malaria is also a disease of concern and that mosquitoes that transmit the disease are expanding northward, a climate-induced change.
He said changing rain patterns have led to more mosquitoes and a higher disease transmission rate.
The study also indicated that zoonotic diseases, such as plague and hantavirus (carried by rodents), are also showing changes in incidence and location.
The experts noted changes in animal migration patterns and natural ranges. They said due to their habitat loss, wild animals are coming closer to humans. With that comes a higher risk of animal diseases spilling over to humans and for new pathogens to develop.
The study also points to the emergence of new fungal infections, such as Candida auris (C. auris) and changes in the location of some fungal pathogens.
It says the sea level is rising and storm surges and coastal flooding that used to be rare or extreme events are happening more frequently.
The experts called for stronger measures for infectious disease surveillance and urged medical educators to train clinicians to anticipate the changes in infectious disease patterns.
“It's not a hopeless situation. There are distinct steps that we can take to prepare for and help deal with these changes. Clinicians see first-hand the impact of climate change on people’s health. As such, they have a role in advocating for policies that can slow climate change,” Phillips said.