Climate change and infectious diseases in the Arctic: Establishment of a circumpolar working groupShow others and affiliations
2014 (English)In: International Journal of Circumpolar Health, ISSN 1239-9736, E-ISSN 2242-3982, Vol. 73, article id 25163
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The Arctic, even more so than other parts of the world, has warmed substantially over the past few decades. Temperature and humidity influence the rate of development, survival and reproduction of pathogens and thus the incidence and prevalence of many infectious diseases. Higher temperatures may also allow infected host species to survive winters in larger numbers, increase the population size and expand their habitat range. The impact of these changes on human disease in the Arctic has not been fully evaluated. There is concern that climate change may shift the geographic and temporal distribution of a range of infectious diseases. Many infectious diseases are climate sensitive, where their emergence in a region is dependent on climate-related ecological changes. Most are zoonotic diseases, and can be spread between humans and animals by arthropod vectors, water, soil, wild or domestic animals. Potentially climate-sensitive zoonotic pathogens of circumpolar concern include Brucella spp., Toxoplasma gondii, Trichinella spp., Clostridium botulinum, Francisella tularensis, Borrelia burgdorferi, Bacillus anthracis, Echinococcus spp., Leptospira spp., Giardia spp., Cryptosporida spp., Coxiella burnetti, rabies virus, West Nile virus, Hantaviruses, and tick-borne encephalitis viruses.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2014. Vol. 73, article id 25163
Keywords [en]
Arctic region, Circumpolar working group, Climate change, Infectious diseases
National Category
Infectious Medicine
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-215292DOI: 10.3402/ijch.v73.25163PubMedID: 25317383Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84907877927OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-215292DiVA, id: diva2:1805338
2023-10-172023-10-172023-10-17Bibliographically approved