Event Details

Climate change is creating suitable conditions for the increased spread and virulence of infectious diseases caused by harmful pathogens including bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, and parasites. Vector-borne illnesses and fungal diseases are just two of many that are extending to new areas and becoming more prevalent, threatening human health.

Zika, dengue, chikungunya, malaria, Lyme disease, bluetongue, Shmallenberg are vector-borne diseases with huge impacts on societies and they are omnipresent in the news. These diseases are transmitted by exothermic arthropod vectors such as mosquitoes, midges and ticks, which are extremely sensitive to external environmental conditions. Rainfall is an important factor as it provides breeding sites for larvae. Temperature impacts a broad range of factors such as vector development, its survival, vector biting rates and the time required for the pathogen to develop inside the arthropod vector. Consequently, anthropogenic climate change is expected to greatly impact the distribution and severity of these vector-borne diseases. This webinar will present recent advances in our understanding of climate change impacts on animal and human vector-borne diseases.

Register at The Collaborative on Health and the Environment.

The Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) cultivates a learning community based on the latest, evidence-based science to share knowledge and resources, and improve individual and collective health. CHE is focused on how environmental risks can impact human health. By informing and connecting affected and interested groups, CHE hopes to build a groundswell of demand for prevention-focused behaviors and policies, as well as economic and legal structures that protect public health.