Climate variability and change in the United States: potential impacts on vector- and rodent-borne diseases.

Abstract

Diseases such as plague, typhus, malaria, yellow fever, and dengue fever, transmitted between humans by blood-feeding arthropods, were once common in the United States. Many of these diseases are no longer present, mainly because of changes in land use, agricultural methods, residential patterns, human behavior, and vector control. However, diseases that may be transmitted to humans from wild birds or mammals (zoonoses) continue to circulate in nature in many parts of the country. Most vector-borne diseases exhibit a distinct seasonal pattern, which clearly suggests that they are weather sensitive. Rainfall, temperature, and other weather variables affect in many ways both the vectors and the pathogens they transmit. For example, high temperatures can increase or reduce survival rate, depending on the vector, its behavior, ecology, and many other factors. Thus, the probability of transmission may or may not be increased by higher temperatures. The tremendous growth in international travel increases the risk of importation of vector-borne diseases, some of which can be transmitted locally under suitable circumstances at the right time of the year. But demographic and sociologic factors also play a critical role in determining disease incidence, and it is unlikely that these diseases will cause major epidemics in the United States if the public health infrastructure is maintained and improved.

Epidemiology of West Nile infection in Volgograd, Russia, in relation to climate change and mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) bionomics

“…Other specialists argue that "demographic and sociologic factors also play a critical role in determining disease incidence" (Gubler et al 2001). We are ready to agree with Kovats et al (2001): "the literature to date indicates that there is a lack of strong evidence of the impact of climate change on vector-borne diseases….New approaches to monitoring…are necessary in order to provide convincing direct evidence of climate change effects."…”

California’s local health agencies and the state’s climate adaptation strategy

“…Given the success in eradicating many vector-borne diseases in the United States and the robust health infrastructure, it is likely that much of the risk from vector-borne diseases will be due to importation through international travel rather than outbreaks in the United States (Gubler et al 2001 Management of water-borne disease may also pose challenges. Drinking water contamination outbreaks in the U.S. are associated with extreme precipitation events (Rose et al 2001).…”

Host-feeding pattern of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in heterogeneous landscapes of South Andaman, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

“…Of these 537 arboviruses, approximately 27 of which have been reported to cause major diseases in humans, are predominantly transmitted by mosquitoes, mites, and ticks (CDC 2015). Demographic, community changes, rapid and modern transportation have facilitated gateway mechanisms for entry of arboviruses from natural settings into newer ecological niches world over, which are receptive with susceptible arthropod vectors and hosts offers favorable conditions for triggering outbreaks (Gubler et al 2001). Historically, epidemics of dengue and chikungunya viruses vectored by Aedes aegypti have been documented in the African and Asian continents (Jupp and McIntosh 1988).…”