Climate Change Effects on Venomous Snakes

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the evidence of a relationship between climatic changes and snake species distribution in relation with the snakebites risk increment against human populations. The global climatic change is a key factor leading to snake species behavioral changes mainly because of the rise of temperature. The variety of venomous snakes and their related potency toward human being have been well documented. Thus, this may serve as a basic knowledge for any preventive act in the face of snake toxins and their caused physiopathological and clinical effects. In addition, several studies have shown that global warming have caused a change in snake habitat and distribution, thus leading to an increase of overlapped human and snake populations living territories which raise up the risk of envenomation. Globally, more than 20,000 deaths occur every year with a high tendency to increase. Thus, consideration of human risk of envenomation may be fundamental to the effective intervention in epidemiological and clinical scales.

Climate Change, Scorpion Ecology, and Envenomation

Every year, more than 1 million cases of scorpion envenomation are reported worldwide. Scorpions are thermophilic organisms. They are sensitive to weather and climate conditions, in such a way the ongoing trends of increasing temperature and more variable weather could lead to scorpionism spreading. There has been considerable debate as to whether global envenomation will be impacted by climate change which has focused on snake and spider envenomation risk. This debate didn't give enough interest to scorpion stings and its burden risks, in spite their widespread potential effects in many regions. Here, the authors review how climate and climate change may impact scorpion activity as well as scorpion envenomation. They contrast ecological and behavioral characteristics of these arthropods, and how weather, climate, climate change, and socioeconomic factors may have very different impacts on the spatiotemporal occurrence and abundance of scorpions, and the resulting scorpion envenomation.

Epilepsy and Stroke Emerging From Climate Change-Related Neurotoxicity

Climate change has an important impact on the environment. As it degrades the quality of water, soil, and area, it also spreads the distribution of many toxic elements, specifically heavy metals and pesticides. The impact of climate change on contamination with heavy metals and pesticides has been well investigated and discussed. The influence of these elements on human health is obviously exacerbated following their extended distribution. Moreover, a wide range of health problems have been associated to such intoxication, among which impairment and dysfunction of the nervous system are prominent. In this chapter, the authors will shed light on two most common neurological diseases such as epilepsy and stroke affecting people worldwide arising from food and water contaminations, mainly with heavy metals and pesticides.

Waterborne Diseases Arising From Climate Change

As a result of increased frequency and intensity of heat waves, increased floods and droughts, change in climate will affect biological, physical, and chemical components of water through different paths thus enhancing the risk of waterborne diseases. Identifying the role of weather in waterborne infection is a priority public health research issue as climate change is predicted to increase the frequency of extreme precipitation and temperature events. This chapter provides evidence that precipitation and temperature can affect directly or indirectly water quality and consequently affect the health human. This chapter also highlights the complex relationship between precipitation or temperature and transmission of waterborne disease such as diarrheal disease, gastroenteritis, cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis, and cholera.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Disease and Environmental Risk Factors

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects central and peripheral motor neuron cells leading to a severe muscle weakness. Until now, no efficient cures exist and those existing are limited. The ALS etiology remains obscure, although the relationship between genetic background and environmental insults including pesticides and heavy metals is well documented. These latter may play a major role in the onset of the ALS neurodegenerative process. Pesticides are known to have many benefits to mankind in the agricultural and industrial areas, but their toxicities in humans have always been a debatable issue. The pathophysiological mechanisms involve, among others, inflammation processes, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial function impairments. The aim of this chapter was to examine the association between the risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and exposure to pesticides and heavy metals.

Metal Toxicity and Brain-Liver Axis

The liver is the main detoxifier organ of the body. When normal liver function is compromised, other systems in the body can be affected, including the brain. Hepatocerebral disorder is the term used to describe some neuropsychiatric conditions that result from liver failure and characterized by the accumulation of these toxic metals in brain. Examples of such disorders are Wilson's disease (WD), an autosomal recessive disorder that is characterized by the deposition of copper in liver and brain tissues and acquired (non-Wilsonian) hepatocerebral degeneration (AHCD), a complication that occurs most frequently in patients with hepatic coma or that suffered multiple episodes of severe HE. AHCD is characterized by accumulation in brain of manganese. This chapter will focus on the crucial importance of relationship between liver and brain functioning and on the effects produced when this relationship is compromised. Specifically, the chapter will discuss on the physiopathology of WD and AHCD and on the role that toxic metals play on neurological symptoms in such disorders.

Breast Cancer With Relevance for Heavy Metals, Mycotoxines, and Pesticides

Certain environmental contaminants such as heavy metals, pesticides, and mycotoxins are presumed to play a crucial role in the etiology of breast cancer, which is the most common tumor in women worldwide. In fact, the exposure to heavy metals poses risk in causing human cancers. Several investigations indicated strong contribution of heavy metals especially copper, arsenic, zinc, cadmium, lead, and aluminum in breast cancer. Furthermore, it has been reported that the excessive use of pesticides in agriculture in order to improve the productivity contaminates food materials and can be responsible to induce breast cancer in women. It is also noted that some fungi produce several type of mycotoxins such us zearalenone, aflatoxin, and ochratoxin that are dangerous for human health and can especially cause breast cancer. Thus, the objective of this chapter is to discuss the experimental data regarding the involvement of heavy metals, pesticides, and mycotoxins as well as the recent insights on the molecular mechanisms involved in the progress of breast cancer.

Climate Change Outcomes on the Environmental Ecotoxicology

Climate change is a daunting problem and has only recently attracted attention. This chapter presents a review on the implications of climate change on the regulation, and modelling of toxic pollutants. Also, it identifies relationships between climate fluctuations and changes in some polluants distribution (heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and pesticides). Moreover, the influence of climate change on polluant environmental behavior is explored by studying polluants response to inter-annual climate fluctuations such as precipitation and temperature. Therefore, it will be important to monitor strategies taking into account climate change and new regulatory plans should be devised in toxics polluant management.

Climate Change and Fecal Peril

Fecal peril caused by intestinal parasites is commonly reported to be causing health problems in the world. Furthermore, global climate change is inevitable. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the health effects of climate change. Water shortage contribute to increase the pressure on regional water resources and force a greater number of people to use urban wastewater as an alternative for irrigation. Therefore, unsafe management and inappropriate wastewater use in urban agriculture is likely to be responsible of exacerbating the transmission of infectious diseases, including those caused by intestinal protozoa and helminths parasitic worms. It should be taken into account that waterborne diseases are influencedby climate change. The frequency and severity of intertwined extreme weather events driven by climate change are occurring worldwide and likely to cause epidemics of waterborne gastroenteritis. The association found between both rainfall, river flooding, and the majority of waterborne disease outbreaks was frequently proved to be preceded by climatic change events.

Climatic Factors Impacting Leishmaniasis Risk in a Global View

Leishmaniasis is a complex disease comprised of multiple organisms in association. Each of these organisms responds differently to external factors. The environmental and socio-economic associations contribute to the dynamics and emergence of leishmaniasis across the globe. Ecological dynamics of the vector-parasite-host system of leishmaniasis influenced directly and indirectly both human and animal health. The transitions and rapid climate and socio-economic changes caused a transition of emergence and re-emergence of leishmaniasis outbreaks. The pattern of changes is influenced by the distribution and abundance as well as the spatial dynamics of vector and reservoirs species, which in turn disrupts ecosystem structure of vector and parasite. In Morocco, leishmaniasis are endemic and constitute a major public health threat. The observations showed significant variations in its spatial distribution and forms through Morocco with increase in the number of recorded cases during the last couple of years. Here, the authors discuss disease change related to climate and socio-economic influence.