Climate change and infectious diseases in New Zealand: a brief review and tentative research agenda

Abstract

produced could benefi t from a wider critique, and government agencies in New Zealand could contribute to informed discussions by better documenting the current state of knowledge on their websites. AbstractAims: To review the literature on infectious diseases and meteorological and climate change risk factors in the New Zealand context and to describe a tentative research agenda for future work. Methods: We performed literature searches in May 2010 using Medline and Google Scholar. We also searched fi ve health-related government agencies in New Zealand for documentation on climate change and health. Results: The effect of climate variability and change on vector-borne disease has been considered in more detail than any other infectious disease topic (n = 20 + journal articles and reports relating to New Zealand). Generally, concern has arisen around the risk of new mosquito incursions and increased risks of dengue and Ross River fevers in the long term. For enteric diseases, the picture from fi ve New Zealand publications is somewhat mixed, although the data indicate that salmonellosis notifi cations increase with higher monthly temperatures. One interpretation of the New Zealand data is that communities without reticulated water supplies could be more vulnerable to the effects of climate change-mediated increases in protozoan diseases. This information informed a tentative research agenda to address research gaps. Priorities include the need for further work on a more integrated surveillance framework, vector-borne diseases, enteric diseases, skin infections, and then work on topics for which we found no published New Zealand work (such as infl uenza and leptospirosis). Finally, we found that health-related government agencies in New Zealand have relatively little ' climate change and health ' information on their websites. Conclusions: Although some informative work has been done to date, much scope remains for additional research and planning to facilitate prevention, mitigation, and adaptation responses in the New Zealand setting around climate change and infectious disease risks. The tentative research agenda Authors' confl ict of interest disclosure: Although we do not consider it a competing interest, for the sake of full transparency we note Brought to you by | Western University Authenticated Download Date | 6/7/15 2:24 PM

A Review of National-Level Adaptation Planning with Regards to the Risks Posed by Climate Change on Infectious Diseases in 14 OECD Nations

“…For example, despite the fact that the South Pacific region is likely to be strongly impacted by changing vector ranges and environmental conditions [110,111], New Zealand’s national adaptation plan only outlines broad suggestions of methods to alleviate future health risks of climate change and focuses primarily on the benefits of mitigation. For example, New Zealand’s adaptation plan presents “walking, cycling and taking public transport” as individual-level “adaptations” meant to increase physical activity and diminish one’s carbon footprint.…”

Climate Variability, Weather and Enteric Disease Incidence in New Zealand: Time Series Analysis

“…Associations between temperature and salmonellosis [20] and rainfall and cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis [21], [22] as well as distinct seasonal disease patterns [16] suggest that climate variability is an important determinant of enteric disease. Importantly, the need for increased research around climate change and infectious disease risks to inform adaptation responses in New Zealand has been identified as a priority [23].…”

Climate Change, Climate Variability and Brucellosis

“…As it has been previously stated, health is one of the relevant elements affected by this enormous problem that represents the climate change [5]. Despite the impact of climate change on infectious diseases have been highlighted [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], its impact on zoonotic diseases has been largely ignored [17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Many zoonoses are very prone to increase due to shifts in the distribution and behavior of vectors and animal species, which indicates that biologic systems are already adapting to ecological variations [17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”