Rift Valley Fever and the Changing Environment

Rift Valley fever is a severe disease affecting both humans and animals. The Rift Valley fever virus can be transmitted by body fluids, and the most common way for humans to get infected is from animals. The virus is also vector-borne and can be transmitted by many species of mosquitoes. As with other vector-borne diseases, the epidemiology may vary in response to environmental changes. Here the effects of climate and land use changes on Rift Valley fever, as well as on other vector-borne diseases, are discussed. The effect of irrigation in East Africa on inter-epidemic transmission of RVF is discussed in greater detail, followed by recommendations for future research and actions.

Climate Change-Associated Conflict and Infectious Disease

One of the least appreciated mechanisms by which climate change will affect infectious diseases is via increased violent conflict. Climate change will diminish agricultural and pastoral resources and increase food scarcity in many areas, including already impoverished equatorial regions. Many in the defence and public health fields anticipate that climate change will increase conflict by fuelling competition over scarce resources. Already, some commentators argue that the conflicts in Darfur and Syria were partially caused or exacerbated by climate change. Conflict facilitates a range of conditions conducive to the spread of many infectious diseases, including malnutrition, forced migration, unhygienic living conditions and widespread sexual assault. Flight or killing of health personnel inhibits vaccination, vector control and disease surveillance programs. Emergence of new diseases may go undetected and discovery of outbreaks could be suppressed for strategic reasons. These conditions combine to increase the risk of pandemics.

Global Environmental Change and Emerging Infectious Diseases

The prediction of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) and the avoidance of their tremendous social and economic costs is contingent on the identification of their most likely drivers. It is argued that the drivers of global environmental change (and climate change as both a driver and an impact) are often the drivers of EIDs; and that the two overlap to such a strong degree that targeting these drivers is sound epidemiological policy. Several drivers overlap with the leading causes of biodiversity loss, providing opportunities for health and biodiversity sectors to generate synergies at local and global levels. This chapter provides a primer on EID ecology, reviews underlying drivers and mechanisms that facilitate pathogen spillover and spread, provides suggested policy and practice-based actions toward the prevention of EIDs in the context of environmental change, and identifies knowledge gaps for the purpose of further research.

Infectious Diseases and Climate Vulnerability in Morocco

Climate change is expected to affect the distribution, prevalence and life cycle of several infectious diseases. This scenario is relevant to Morocco since the country is considered by many IPCC assessments reports as a climate change hotspot with a high vulnerability to many expected impacts. Given this existing vulnerability, this chapter aims to highlight relevant vector-borne diseases, the risks of their reemergence in many vulnerable regions and the pressing need to understand their dynamics within a context marked by knowledge gaps and limited scientific evidence; underline the problematic aspects of health adaptation to climate change and the current difficulties in terms of policy and governance to manage climate-health linkages; and finally undertake an assessment of Morocco's adaptive capacity from a health perspective and formulate recommendations for effective climate-health governance and policy.

History of Infectious Diseases

This chapter provides a review of infectious disease to date and the challenges they may present in the future. The main pandemics that have driven the history of humanity are described, from the first to be recorded in 3180 BC to more recent ones such as AIDIS, SARS and others associated with emerging pathogens. The essential role of emerging scientific specialisms (particularly microbiology, public health and sanitary engineering) to our understanding of the causes of these diseases (and how they may be better monitored, controlled and prevented) is presented. Globalization and climate change, determining factors for the ecology of infectious diseases and their emergence and re-emergence, are discussed and point to the urgent need for research to deal with these threats that continue to have a significant impact on human development and wellbeing.

Are Climate Change Adaptation Policies a Game Changer?

The health impacts of climate change have received significant attention in the international scholarly literature. Despite this, there is an absence of research evaluating existing policies aimed at promoting and protecting population health. This chapter provides an implementation analysis of the Ontario Public Health Standards (OPHS), 2008/2014--the provincial policy statement that governs mandatory public health activities in the province which includes taking action on climate change. This chapter responds to two specific questions: First, how are Ontario's 36 regional health units interpreting and implementing this policy statement; and second, how are those interpretations translated into practice. Using a web-scan and in-depth interviews with practitioners from twenty Ontario health units, this paper presents four interpretations of the OPHS, a typology of best practices related to regional adaptation, and policy recommendations to bolster domestic and international adaptive capacity to emerging infectious diseases associated with climate change, and a variety of other health-related climate impacts.

Climate Change Effects on Human Health with a Particular Focus on Vector-Borne Diseases and Malaria in Africa

Malaria is currently affecting more people in the world than any other disease. On average, two members of each household suffered from malaria fever monthly, with females and children being most vulnerable to malaria attacks. This chapter assessed communities' perception about malaria epidemic, weather variable and climate change in metropolitan Kano. Information was extracted related to communities' perception about malaria epidemic and climate change. Socio demographic characteristics of respondents in the study areas were extracted and analyzed. 75% of the participants were males, while 25% were females, malaria disease affected 79.66% and 59.66% respondent perceived that heavy rainfall, floods and high temperature are better conditions to the breeding and spread of malaria vectors. Hospital records revealed that Month of March and April (2677 and 2464, respectively) has highest number of malaria cases recorded between December 2010 to June 2011. Further research is recommended for in-depth information from health officials related to raising awareness.

Environmental Change and the Emergence of Infectious Diseases

In South America in the past decades several infectious diseases have emerged or re-emerged either as part of larger pandemics or as local processes involving autochthonous pathogens. These included arthropod-borne viral diseases, such as Dengue Fever, Chikungunya and Zika as well as viral hemorrhagic fevers, such as Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, Junin, Machupo and Guanarito viruses. Parasitic disease was also important such as Malaria, endemic in the northern part of the continent, Leishmaniasis and Chagas Disease. Carrion disease, a bacterial infection originally from the Andes region, also seems to be expanding geographically. Several social and environmental processes have contributed to the emergence of these pathogens, including human migration, deforestation, road and dam building and climate shifts. Due to its high biological diversity of wildlife, arthropods and virus species in still untouched natural ecosystems in the Amazon has the greatest regional potential for the emergence of new human infections.

Waterborne Diseases and Climate Change: Impact and Implications

Waterborne diseases are caused by a multitude of pathogens and associated with a significant burden in both developed and developing countries. While the assessment of the adverse impacts of climate change on human heath from infectious diseases has mainly focused on vector-borne diseases, waterborne diseases prevalence and transmission patterns are also likely to be impacted by environmental change. This chapter will outline relevant waterborne pathogens, summarise the impact of climate change on disease transmission and explore climate change adaptation options in order to reduce the increased burden of waterborne diseases.

Emergence of the Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa

This chapter gives an overview on the recent outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa which has lasted for over seventeen months. The Ebola virus has been implicated as a causative agent of viral haemorrhagic fever occurring in Central Africa over the last thirty-nine years. However, the Ebola virus has not previously been recognised as an endemic virus causing outbreaks of viral illness in West Africa. The start of what was to become the largest Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in known history was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 23rd of March 2014 and since then it has transformed into an unprecedented and severe epidemic affecting the three countries of West Africa (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone). The emergence of this lethal virus in a setting of profound poverty, a dysfunctional public-health and a weak government infrastructure alarmed the wider world and caused dread from an uncontrollable spread.