A look at how climate change is affecting infectious diseases.

Infectious DiseaseA look at how climate change is

affecting infectious diseases.

A Windows to the Universe presentation to accompany the Infectious Diseases activity

www.windows2universe.org

Changing Planet: Infectious Diseases

NBC Learn Video – Infectious Diseases


http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/changing_planet/infectious_disease.html

Vector-borne diseases


Vectors are animals that spread human diseases

Disease Vector Population at riskNumber of people infected

Present distribution

Likelihood of altered

distribution

Malaria Mosquito 2.4 billion 300-500 million

Tropics and subtropics

High

Schistosomiasis Water snail

600 million 200 million

Tropics and subtropics

Medium

African sleeping sickness

Tsetse fly 55 million 300,000 Tropical Africa

Medium

Dengue Mosquito 1.8 billion 30 million

Tropics Medium

Yellow Fever Mosquito 450 million >5,000 Tropics Low

Malaria

• Malaria affects millions of people worldwide every year.


• Malaria is spread by mosquitoes, and is a problem in warm, wet climates where the mosquitoes flourish

Cholera


• Cholera is a disease caused by a bacterium that spreads through contaminated drinking water

• When poor living conditions or disaster force people to drink contaminated water, cholera can quickly become epidemic

Dengue • Dengue (also known as breakbone fever) is a viral disease spread by mosquitoes

• Like malaria, it is spreading because many environments are getting warmer and wetter and allowing mosquito populations to increase


Dengue


Dengue is projected to spread with global warming

Schistosomiasis• Schistosomiasis is a disease spread by

parasitic worms.• It is spread by snails, and is a problem in

wet tropical climates where the snails are abundant and water is often contaminated with human waste.


A look at how climate change is affecting infectious diseases.

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