Climate Change Amplifies Infectious Disease Risks, Experts Warn

According to advice published in the Netherlands last week, climate change is increasing the risk of not just infectious diseases but also cancer and heat stress. This concern has implications not just in the U.S. but globally as well. 

In their advisory that was issued on Thursday, the Scientific Climate Council and the Dutch Health Council caution that health impacts connected to climate change are increasing at a rate that hadn’t been previously expected. 

The two councils urge for additional protection for all people. They say if these extra protective measures aren’t speedily implemented, heat-linked fatalities due to climate change could multiply six-fold by 2050 in the Netherlands. The Netherlands isn’t the only country facing climate change, so the concerns of these councils hold global implications. 

They particularly draw attention to fatalities related to heat stress, summer smog and skin cancer. Additional threats that they cite include premature births due to pregnancy complications from heat exposure. 

To generate their advisory, the councils jointly examined UV and heat exposure, and also the health impacts of fungi and insects inside buildings. They say that the risks arising from those factors aren’t distributed evenly. Elderly people living in care facilities are at higher risk since they are dependent on their caregivers. 

People who live in rented spaces also face high risks because many don’t control climate conditions within their apartments and rely on their landlords to regulate climate conditions within their living spaces. 

The authors of the advisory point out that many homes are built with winter in mind and little attention is devoted to thinking about the conditions required during summer, particularly in older homes. This has to change, they say. Otherwise, summer temperatures could soar to levels that aren’t healthy inside people’s homes. 

This advisory is a call to action for policymakers not just in the Netherlands but around the world since climate change is happening at different rates in different regions. Proactive action needs to be taken to mitigate the anticipated adverse effects so that avoidable risks can be prevented. 

Of concern is the growing prevalence of insect vectors whose geographical coverage is increasing as ambient temperatures rise. Mosquitoes, for example, are now more common in U.S. states that previously didn’t have these insects and other vectors like rodents. 

As the risk of the infectious diseases transmitted by these vectors increases, more will need to be done to increase access to diagnostic services outside centralized labs and into homes and other field conditions so that infected people can be rapidly diagnosed and treated to prevent further spread of any outbreaks. Firms like Co-Diagnostics Inc. (NASDAQ: CODX) are focused on advancing infectious disease diagnostics so that the high costs linked to advanced testing using PCR are lowered, and issues of access can be addressed. 

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