Earth’s Health isn’t the only thing failing

 Kevin Mamo

Professor Horgan

HST - 401 A

October 29th, 2022



 Earth’s Health isn’t the only thing failing


While the world focuses on the ice caps melting or hurricanes slicing through coastal cities (and rightfully so), there is another urgent issue stemming from climate change. The rising temperatures bring about the drastic change in weather leading to warmer climates and heavier rainfall throughout the year. The spring season now has heavier rainfall and a damper environment which leads to more standing water, and summers bring droughts which also lead to the formation of pools of water rather than free flowing streams. Many people see these changes and form tunnel vision by only noticing the obvious problems such as lack of water leading to bad crop yield, dehydration, and less hydro powered energy. However, these new conditions that are being amplified by climate change also bring the silent problem which is that of vectors.

 A vector is a living organism that can transmit diseases to another animal or even a human. The changes in weather patterns have led to a sharp increase in the vector population meaning things such as mosquitoes/ticks are a looming danger to the general population. For example, the recent hurricane [Hurricane Ian] that hit the southeastern portion of the United States led to flooding in a lot of residential areas. Obviously there is damage done directly from the water and high wind speeds, but the leftover water is dirty and becomes a breeding ground for bacteria and mosquitoes thrive in said environment. Hence, the worse climate change gets the worse it will be for global health. 

Mosquitoes are the main vector that many scientists and health officials worry about due to their ability to multiply quickly and the variety of diseases that they can transmit. According to a 2019 study in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, disease-carrying mosquitoes will affect 500 million more people by the year 2050 than they do today. The one sub-species of mosquito, Aedes mosquito, transmits many infectious diseases such as Chikungunya, Zika, West Nile virus and dengue fever. These illnesses all have similar flu-like symptoms such  as fever, headaches, rash, joint pains, nausea, and vomiting, however, in many cases they can lead to hospitalization and even death. As stated by the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2022 report, the risk of dengue fever will rise with longer seasons and wider geographic distribution in Asia, Europe, Central and South America and sub-Saharan Africa thus potentially putting billions of people at risk by the end of the century. In addition, many of the affected areas are underdeveloped areas with weak health care, so while places such as Europe and the United States will definitely face problems with these diseases they are better equipped to deal with them. Also places such as Central/South America and Africa already have high populations of mosquitoes and they are already hot/damp, so climate change is acting like a force multiplier making the vulnerable countries worse than they already are. 

Ticks are another vector that is being helped by climate change. The warmer winters allow for tick populations to grow and remain longer than they did previously. Lyme disease is the main disease transmitted by ticks and is a life-long illness if not treated immediately after infection. Northern regions of the world such as Germany have found ticks surviving through the winter months which hints that they may be establishing themselves in northern countries. 

Mitigating the effects of climate change would help with this issue, but mitigation alone is not enough. The world has to prepare in different ways so that these vector-borne illnesses don’t become a bigger issue than they already are. Developed nations such as Europe, East Asia, and the United States MUST provide universal access to care and disease management and other forms of medical aid to the afflicted nations. Minimizing the exposure to vectors by using screens on windows/doors, wearing protective clothing, and using insecticide would reduce the chances of humans coming in contact with the vectors themselves. Destruction of vector breeding sites would hinder the rise of their populations. Vaccine production/acceleration would also be very useful because it would be difficult to stop all mosquitoes, so at least if people are bitten they won’t be affected by the diseases transmitted. Medication and vaccines are definitely the better way to deal with the illnesses because it is very difficult, as previously stated, to completely get rid of vectors. In addition, a lot of funding is already being put into medical research for new vaccines and better treatments for the symptoms of these diseases, so scientists already have a type of head start in that regard.  

The increase in vector-borne diseases are a side effect of climate change that many people seem to overlook. Although it is understandable because hotter temperatures, weather damage, and rising sea levels seem to have a more apparent effect on our way of life. Nonetheless, the world has already had its fair share of viruses and outbreaks due to Covid-19, so viruses such as West Nile and dengue fever don’t seem to be too appealing. The world may be heading towards a dangerous future with the rise of these diseases, but it will certainly not be unprepared for it. Scientists are already looking at ways (such as those stated before) to control the vector populations, so at the very least the problem isn’t being left unnoticed. Hence, going forward people should be aware/cautious but not afraid of said illnesses because many different avenues can be taken to deal with them. 




Works Cited


Dangour, Alan. “How Climate Change Affects Vector-Borne Diseases: News.” Wellcome, 12 May 2022, https://wellcome.org/news/how-climate-change-affects-vector-borne-diseases#top.

Ryan, Sadie J., et al. “Global Expansion and Redistribution of Aedes-Borne Virus Transmission Risk with Climate Change.” PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pntd.0007213.

Sonabend, Raphael, et al. “Climate Change and Health: IPCC Report Findings: News.” Wellcome, 4 Mar. 2022, https://wellcome.org/news/ipcc-report-climate-change-and-health. 

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