How might climate change impact the incidence of a disease? Use a specific example to illustrate your answer

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: Climate change could increase temperatures in moderate climates, allowing vectors or other animals to expand their range. If climate change results in the movement of animals into areas where people who have not been around those animals before, zoonotic and/or vector-borne diseases could increase. For instance, warmer temperatures and increased rainfall in Florida might allow certain tropical mosquitoes to survive and reproduce, thus spreading tropical vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, or yellow fever. A sudden increase in the number of mosquitoes, which serve as excellent vectors to transmit infectious agents, can cause a major increase in the incidents of diseases such as dengue fever, malaria, Rift Valley fever, West Nile encephalitis, yellow fever, etc. Movement of wild mammals into closer contact with humans would be another example of how climate change could impact the incidence of a disease.