Global Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events:
Understanding the Potential Contributions to the Emergence, Reemergence, and Spread of Infectious Disease
Workshop Summary
Rapporteurs: David A. Relman, Margaret A. Hamburg,Eileen R. Choffnes, and Alison Mack
Forum on Microbial Threats Board on Global Health
US
Available online at: http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12435
Long before the “germ theory” of disease was described, late in the nineteenth century, humans knew that climatic conditions influence the appearance and spread of epidemic diseases. Ancient notions about the effects of weather and climate on disease remain embedded in our collective consciousness—through expressions such as “cold” for rhinovirus infections; “malaria,” derived from the Latin for “bad air;” and the common complaint of feeling “under the weather.”
Today, evidence is mounting that earth’s climate is changing at a faster rate than previously appreciated, leading researchers to view the longstanding relationships between climate and disease with new urgency and from a global perspective. On December 4 and 5, 2007, the Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop in Washington, DC to consider the possible infectious disease impacts of global climate change and extreme weather events on human, animal, and plant health, as well as their expected implications for global and national security.
Content:
1 Climate Change Challenges
Climate Change, Extreme Events, and Human Health
Climate Change and Human Health
Climate Change Futures: Health, Ecological, and Economic Dimensions
Impacts of Global Climate Change on Infectious Diseases
2 Climate, Ecology, and Infectious Disease
The Marine Environment and Human Health: The Cholera Model
Extreme Weather and Epidemics: Rift Valley Fever and Chikungunya Fever
Plague and Climate
Climate Change and Plant Disease Risk
Climate Change and Infectious Disease: Impact on Human Populations in the
3 Historical, Scientific, and Technological Approaches to Studying the Climate-Disease Connection
Drought, Epidemic Disease, and Massive Population Loss: 1,000 Years of Record in
Wildlife Health as an Indicator of Climate Change
Use of Climate Variation in Vector-Borne Disease Decision Support Systems
4 Policy Implications of the Health Effects of Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events
Influences of Migration and Population Mobility
Climate Change, Infectious Disease, and International Public Health Policy
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