Climate changes and infectious diseases

Abstract

In many cases infectious diseases manifest a seasonal variation in frequency, in a way that suggests that climatic factors play a regulatory role in the development of outbreaks of the disease and the causation of epidemics. Such factors include temperature, humidity, winds, sea currents, and the El Nino effect. Infectious diseases, the prevalence of which depends on climatic factors, are divided into two groups. The first group includes those infections for which there are clear indications for an association of their frequency with various climatic factors (malaria, dengue, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome etc). The second group includes those diseases which show a periodicity in their manifestation, for which an association with the climate is thought likely (cholera, Campylobacter infections etc). For the health services to be able to improve the efficacy of programs of prevention by utilizing information and knowledge about the association of the climate with the prevalence of infections, it is imperative that interdisciplinary programs are developed on a worldwide scale, which should take into account the effects of human behaviour and the various changes that occur in disease hosts and in the ecosystems in which these live.