Future disease burden due to the rise of emerging infectious disease secondary to climate change may be being under-estimated

Hunter, Paul (2025) Future disease burden due to the rise of emerging infectious disease secondary to climate change may be being under-estimated. Virulence, 16 (1). ISSN 2150-5594

Preview

PDF (Hunter_2025_Virulence) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Climate change is predicted to increase the risk of the emergence or re-emergence of infectious diseases. Most, if not all, studies that have explored the possibility of diseases spreading into naive populations have only considered incidence as a measure of disease burden. We argue that, for many diseases, disease severity will be greater in previously unexposed populations than in populations where the disease has been endemic. There have been many examples throughout history of diseases becoming more lethal as they spread into new populations. A classic example of this is the impact on North Americans after the arrival of Europeans. A more recent example is the emergence of Zikaviruses in South America. There are a range of possible explanations for this phenomenon, including the age at first exposure, immunity, and host genetic factors. We need to plan not only for an increase in the incidence of a range of infectious diseases, but also for an increase in the disease burden.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	climate change,infectious disease,disease severity,sdg 3 - good health and well-being,sdg 13 - climate action ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Water Security Research Centre Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Epidemiology and Public Health
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	01 May 2025 15:30
Last Modified:	14 May 2025 16:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/99174
DOI:	10.1080/21505594.2025.2501243

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item