Climate change and vector borne diseases in latin america

Abstract

The Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Latin American and Caribbean Region (LAC) region is very heterogeneous from the perspectives of physical geography, ecosystems, social, cultural, and economic characteristics, and also health profiles. Global climate change is projected to affect this region in several ways, either through changes in climatic baseline conditions or by changing the pattern of occurrence of extreme weather events. The most important vector borne diseases (VBDs) caused by climate factors in the region are malaria, dengue fever, leishmaniases, yellow fever, Carrion's disease, plague and filarial infections. Several studies in Latin America have pointed that the incidence of these infections is modulated by climate variability phenomena such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).