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Experts discuss
connections between global warming, infectious disease Washington - Over the past five years, levels of West Nile, hantavirus, Lyme disease and other infectious diseases have skyrocketed in the United States. And new "surprise" diseases are anticipated for the future. Recent scientific studies reveal that increases in rainfall, extreme drought and other changes in the world's climate may be at least partially to blame. One week after the conclusion of the final talks on the Kyoto Protocol -- the international agreement to address global warming -- the U.S. continues to sit on the sidelines, failing to address potentially drastic changes to the Earth's climate. A panel of medical experts will brief reporters Thursday on the links between changes in our climate, outbreaks of new diseases affecting human health and the ability of our public health system to handle them. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts a 3-degree increase in temperature and a half-meter sea level rise by the end of the century, largely due to human-caused global warming. Mosquito-borne diseases such as encephalitis and malaria, and rodent-borne diseases such as hantavirus, are extremely weather-sensitive. Small changes in temperature and rainfall will have significant impacts on transmission of these diseases.
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