Infectious Diseases

CURRENT NEWS

Climate change may worsen spread of West Nile virus: What to know

By Adela Suliman and Ellen Francis 08/10/23

The West Nile virus is more commonly contracted in warmer climates, where hot and tropical temperatures allow the mosquitoes that carry it to thrive. Health experts are increasingly concerned that climate change could worsen the…

Medium

Uh-Oh: Mosquitoes and Other Disease Carriers Thrive in Soaring Temperatures

By Denny Pencheva 08/07/23

Rising global temperatures have put more than 10,000 species in danger of extinction. But there is one group that thrives in higher temperatures. Mosquitoes love the heat. So do most other disease vectors like ticks,…

Inside Climate News

Malaria Cases in Florida and Texas Raise Prospect of Greater Transmission in a Warmer Future

By Victoria St. Martin 08/02/23

In July 1957, a newly created federal agency launched an aggressive and advanced program to eradicate a parasitic disease that had vexed state and local health officials across the United States for decades: malaria.

Medical News

Climate change-driven extreme weather events impacting HIV control in Asia Pacific

By Megan Craig 07/28/23

Climate change-driven extreme weather events, sea level rise, changes in temperature, and air and water pollution are impacting control of HIV in the Asia Pacific region, a science gathering heard.

ABC NEWS

Dangerous fungus is becoming more prevalent. Scientists believe climate change could be to blame

By Camille Fassett 07/27/23

In 2016, hospitals in New York state identified a rare and dangerous fungal infection never before found in the United States. Research laboratories quickly mobilized to review historical specimens and found the fungus had been…

The Washington Post

Tick-linked meat allergy may be far more common than previously known

By Lena H. Sun 07/27/23

Up to 450,000 people in the United States may have developed a rare and potentially life-threatening tick-associated allergic condition that is triggered when eating red meat, according to federal health data released Thursday.

IDSA

IAS 2023: Impacts of climate change on the HIV epidemic

By Rabita Aziz 07/25/23

Ongoing climate change will threaten the global response to HIV, presenters said at the 12th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science, with extreme weather events and other impacts of a warming climate posing unique…

Medical News

Unmasking the threat: Scientists show how climate change fuels viral respiratory infections

By Dr. Priyom Bose 06/21/23

Viral respiratory infections (VRIs) are the most common infectious diseases that cause seasonal epidemics and pandemics. Climatic changes often influence the transmission of these diseases.

Climate Central

Mosquito Days

05/17/23

Mosquitoes thrive in warm, humid weather. As our climate warms, many places are becoming more hospitable to mosquitoes—and the health risks they can carry.

The National Geographic

A deadly fungus with mysterious origins is raising alarms

By Sarah Gibbens 04/13/23

Candidas auris, which is spreading around the world, is difficult to detect and even harder to treat. Here’s what we know about it so far, and who’s at risk....

ProPublica

They stumbled upon a way to help prevent the next pandemic.

By Caroline Chen 03/07/23

Jocelyn knew only one way to live. Growing up next to the Manombo Special Reserve in southeast Madagascar, his family taught him from a young age to see the forest as a source of income.…

ProPublica

The next deadly pandemic is just a forest clearing away

By Caroline Chen, Irena Hwang and Al Shaw 02/27/23

Generations ago, families fleeing tribal violence in southern Guinea settled in a lush, humid forest. They took solace among the trees, which offered cover from intruders, and carved a life out of the land. Their…

MORE NEWS

Yale Climate Connections

Climate change is increasing the risk of infectious diseases worldwide

By Neha Pathak 02/22/23

Heat waves, floods, droughts, and rising temperatures fueled by climate change have made the world more vulnerable to disease outbreaks and the spread of a wide variety of pathogens — from bacteria and viruses to…

Yahoo News

Climate change contributing to spread of antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’: UN report

By Zack Budryk 02/08/23

Climate change is heightening the risk posed by antibiotic-resistant viruses, according to research published Tuesday by the United Nations Environment Program. The report found so-called superbugs have been exacerbated by climate change due to increased…

CNN

Climate change is contributing to the rise of superbugs, new UN report says

By Janelle Chavez 02/07/23

Climate change and antimicrobial resistance are two of the greatest threats to global health, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme. The report, titled “Bracing for Superbugs,” highlights the role of…

united nations

To reduce superbugs, world must cut down pollution

02/07/23

Curtailing pollution created by pharmaceuticals, agricultural and healthcare sectors is essential to reduce the emergence, transmission, and spread of superbugs – strains of bacteria that have become resistant to every known antibiotic – and other…

Esquire

Apparently Climate Change Is Good for One Thing: Disease

By Charles P. Pierce 08/10/22

Guess what? I’m a little interested in pandemic diseases these days. So when I spotted this study about how serious contagious diseases are getting a big boost from those clever Chinese climate hoaxsters, I thought…

USA Today

Climate change-related weather hazards linked to nearly 60% of human diseases

By Dinah Voyles Pulver 08/10/22

Everyone knows rats, bats, mold and mosquitoes can make people sick, but a new study out this week concludes such pathogens and hundreds more are made worse by the warming world. A group of University…

The New York Times

Climate change will accelerate viral spillovers, study finds

By Carl Zimmer 04/28/22

Over the next 50 years, climate change will drive thousands of viruses to jump from one species of mammal to another, according to a study published in Nature on Thursday. The shuffling of viruses among…

Kaiser Health News

Climate change may make the US a “Goldilocks zone” for West Nile Virus

Melissa Bailey 03/28/22

Spring rain, summer drought, and heat created ideal conditions for mosquitoes to spread the West Nile virus through Colorado last year, experts said. West Nile killed 11 people and caused 101 cases of neuroinvasive infections…

The Harvard Gazette

Viewing climate change as a human health problem

By Alvin Powell 10/21/21

The medical journal The Lancet released its annual “Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change” and a companion brief focused on conditions in the United States. The brief urges action to curb…

AP News

Reports: Health problems tied to global warming on the rise

By Seth Borenstein 10/21/21

Health problems tied to climate change are all getting worse, according to two reports published Wednesday.

NPR

Climate change is bad for your health. And plans to boost economies may make it worse

By Nathan Rott 10/20/21

It may seem obvious: Heat kills. Wildfires burn. Flooding drowns. But the sprawling health effects of a rapidly warming world can also be subtle. Heat sparks violence and disrupts sleep. Wildfire smoke can trigger respiratory…

The Washington Post

Inaction on climate change imperils millions of lives, doctors say

By Sarah Kaplan 10/20/21

Climate change is set to become the “defining narrative of human health,” a top medical journal warned Wednesday — triggering food shortages, deadly disasters and disease outbreaks that would dwarf the toll of the coronavirus.…

POPULAR SCIENCE

Lyme disease is thriving thanks to climate change

By Marlene Cimons 11/12/18

German physician Alfred Buchwald had no clue that the chronic skin inflammation he described in 1883 was the first recorded case of a serious tick-carrying disease, one that would take hold in a small Connecticut…

The Washington Post

Diseases spread by ticks, mosquitoes and fleas more than tripled in the U.S. since 2004

By Lena H. Sun 05/01/18

The warmer weather of spring and summer means the start of tick and mosquito season and the diseases they transmit, including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, West Nile and Zika.