How will climate change impact on human health?

Question

How will climate change impact on human health?

Answer 1

skin cancer

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Answer 2

In a variety of ways.  Heat waves will become more severe, causing problems for older adults.  Insects that carry disease will increase in population.  And many more.

Here's a major EPA report on it, just released.

http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordispl...

Answer 3

The warming of the planet will be gradual, but the effects of extreme weather events – more storms, floods, droughts and heatwaves – will be abrupt and acutely felt. Both trends can affect some of the most fundamental determinants of health: air, water, food, shelter, and freedom from disease.The data is from WHO, if you want to realize more, here is the website,http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/stat... good luck!!

Answer 4

According to a CDC report to the Senate, that was heavily edited by the Bush administration,

[quote]the public health effects of climate change remain largely unaddressed. CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern.

Climate Change is a Public Health Concern

In the United States, climate change is likely to have a significant impact on health, through links with the following outcomes:

• Direct effects of heat,

• Health effects related to extreme weather events,

• Air pollution-related health effects,

• Allergic diseases,

• Water- and food-borne infectious diseases,

• Vector-borne and zoonotic diseases,

• Food and water scarcity, at least for some populations,

• Mental health problems, and

• Long-term impacts of chronic diseases and other health effects

The United States is a developed country with a variety of climates. Because of its well developed health infrastructure, and the greater involvement of government and nongovernmental agencies in disaster planning and response, the health effects from climate change are expected to be less significant than in the developing world. Nevertheless, many Americans will likely experience difficult challenges.

Catastrophic weather events such as heat waves and hurricanes are expected to become more frequent, severe, and costly; the U.S. population is anticipated to continue to age and move to vulnerable locations such as coastal areas, increasing exposures to specific risks; and concurrent challenges such as water scarcity in certain regions could limit our resilience. In addition, climate change is likely to alter the current geographic distribution of some vector-borne and zoonotic diseases; some may become more frequent, widespread, and outbreaks could last longer, while others could be reduced in incidence.

Heat Stress and Direct Thermal Injury

One of the most likely climate change projections is an increase in frequency of hot days, hot nights, and heat waves. The United States is expected to see an increase in the severity, duration, and frequency of extreme heat waves. This, coupled with an aging population, increases the likelihood of higher mortality as the elderly are more vulnerable to dying from exposure to excessive heat. Midwestern and northeastern cities are at greatest risk, as heat-related illness and death appear to be related to exposure to temperatures much hotter than those to which the population is accustomed.

Extreme Weather Events

Climate change is anticipated to alter the frequency, timing, intensity, and duration of extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and floods. The health effects of these extreme weather events range from loss of life and acute trauma, to indirect effects such as loss of home, large-scale population displacement, damage to sanitation infrastructure (drinking water and sewage systems), interruption of food production, damage to the health-care infrastructure, and psychological problems such as post traumatic stress disorder. Displacement of individuals often results in disruption of health care, of particular concern for those with underlying chronic diseases. Future climate projections also show likely increases in the frequency of heavy rainfall events, posing an increased risk of flooding events and overwhelming of sanitation infrastructure.

Air Pollution-Related Health Effects

Climate change can affect air quality by modifying local weather patterns and pollutant concentrations, affecting natural sources of air pollution, and promoting the formation of secondary pollutants. Of particular concern is the impact of increased temperature and UV radiation on ozone formation. Some studies have shown that higher surface temperatures, especially in urban areas, encourage the formation of ground-level ozone.

As a primary ingredient of smog, ground-level ozone is a public health concern. Ozone can irritate the respiratory system, reduce lung function, aggravate asthma, and inflame and damage cells that line the lungs. In addition, it may cause permanent lung damage and aggravate chronic lung diseases.

Allergic Diseases

Studies have shown that some plants, such as ragweed and poison ivy, grow faster and produce more allergens under conditions of high carbon dioxide and warm weather. As a result, allergic diseases and symptoms could worsen with climate change.

Water- and Food-borne Infectious Diseases

Altered weather patterns resulting from climate change are likely to affect the distribution and incidence of food- and water-borne diseases. Changes in precipitation, temperature, humidity, and water salinity have been shown to affect the quality of water used for drinking, recreation, and commercial use. For example, outbreaks of Vibrio bacteria infections following the consumption of seafood and shellfish have been associated with increases in temperatures. Heavy rainfall has also been implicated as a contributing factor in the overloading and contamination of drinking water treatment systems, leading to illness from organisms such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia.

Storm water runoff from heavy precipitation events can also ncrease fecal bacterial counts in coastal waters as well as nutrient load, which, coupled with increased sea-surface temperature, can lead to increases in the frequency and range of harmful algal blooms (red tides) and potent marine biotoxins such as ciguatera fish poisoning.

Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases

Vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, such as plague, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, malaria, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, and dengue fever have been shown to have a distinct seasonal pattern, suggesting that they are weather sensitive. Climate change-driven ecological changes, such as variations in rainfall and temperature, could significantly alter the range, seasonality, and human incidence of many zoonotic and vector-borne diseases. More study is required to fully understand all the implications of ecological variables necessary to predict climate change effects on vector-borne and zoonotic diseases.

Moderating factors such as housing quality, land-use patterns, and vector control programs make it unlikely that these climate changes will have a major impact on tropical diseases such as malaria and dengue fever spreading into the United States. However, climate change could aid in the establishment of exotic vector-borne diseases imported into the United States.

Food Scarcity

Climate change is predicted to alter agricultural production, both directly and indirectly. This may lead to scarcity of some foods, increase food prices, and threaten access to food for Americans who experience food insecurity.

Mental Health Problems

Some Americans may suffer anxiety, depression, and similar symptoms in anticipating climate change and/or in coping with its effects. Moreover, the aftermath of severe events may include post-traumatic stress and related problems, as was seen after Hurricane Katrina. These conditions are difficult to quantify but may have significant effects of health and well-being.

Climate Change Vulnerability

The effects of climate change will likely vary regionally and by population. The northern latitudes of the United States are expected to experience the largest increases in average temperatures; these areas also will likely bear the brunt of increases in ground-level ozone and associated airborne pollutants. Populations in mid-western and northeastern cities are expected to experience more heat-related illnesses as heat waves increase in frequency, severity, and duration.

Coastal regions will likely experience essentially uniform risk of sea level rise, but different rates of coastal erosion, wetlands destruction, and topography are expected to result in dramatically different regional effects of sea level rise. Distribution of animal hosts and vectors may change; in many cases, ranges could extend northward and increase in elevation.

For some pathogens associated with wild animals, such as rodents and hantavirus, ranges will change based on precipitation changes. The west coast of the United States is expected to experience significant strains on water supplies as regional precipitation declines and mountain snowpacks are depleted. Forest fires are expected to increase in frequency, severity, distribution, and duration. The health effects of climate change on a given community will depend not only on the particular exposures it faces, but also on the underlying health status, age distribution, health care access, and socioeconomic status of its residents.

Local response capacity will also be important. As with other environmental hazards, members of certain ethnic and racial minority groups will likely be disproportionately affected. For example, in low-lying coastal communities facing increasingly frequent and severe extreme precipitation events, there could be increased injuries, outbreaks of diarrheal disease, and harmful algal blooms; saltwater may intrude into freshwater tables and infrastructure is likely to be damaged by severe storms, hampering economic recovery.

In certain Southern coastal communities with little economic reserve, declining industry, difficulty accessing health care, and a greater underlying burden of disease, these stressors could be overwhelming. Similarly, in an urban area with increasingly frequent and severe heat waves, certain groups are expected to be more affected: the home-bound, elderly, poor, athletes, and minority and migrant populations, and populations that live in areas with less green space and with fewer centrally air-conditioned buildings are all more vulnerable to heat stress. Some populations of Americans are more vulnerable to the health effects of climate change than others.

Children are at greater risk of worsening asthma, allergies, ...(continue)[End

Answer 5

Historically as with the current one that has lasted about 130 years now warm periods have less sickness, better food supplies and rising population levels and that seems to be holding true. On the other hand deep cooling periods like the little ice age that ended in the mid 1800s have serious health concerns for everybody. The lead in to the little ice age brought with it the black plague that devastated the population of Europe and the Middle East because superstitious people that had been taught to associate cats with witches during the catholic and puritan inquisitions had killed off a large percentage of the cat population that could have kept them virtually rat free. But because they killed most of the cats the fleas from the plague rats killed them.

Warming climate brings health and prosperity to the world. Cooling climate brings sickness, starvation and barbarian invasions of northerners moving south to find warmer lands to grow food on and live in comfort on. Fear excess cold not a little warmth!