Climate Change is Accelerating the Spread of Infectious Diseases, Experts Warn

Scientists and public health experts are warning that climate change is accelerating the rate at which infectious diseases spread, and policymakers don’t seem to be taking this threat as seriously as they should. 

A sobering example is the 14 million cases of dengue fever that were recorded globally in 2024. This figure was double what had been documented in 2023, 7 million cases. A major contributor to this spike was the El Niño weather that occurred around that time. 

That spike in dengue cases was alarming, and it was also a warning sign that as the planet continued warming up, many more such massive outbreaks of infectious diseases would occur. 

As global warming accelerates, the geography of diseases is shifting. The window within which vectors that spread diseases thrive is becoming wider, and that is exposing a lot more people to the risk of being infected by the diseases spread by those vectors. 

For example, winter frosts used to kill lots of mosquitoes, but as global warming continues, more of these vectors are surviving for longer and spreading malaria. Ticks and rodents that carry disease-causing microbes are also increasing the geographical range within which they survive because of the warming climate. 

Prof. Peng Bi, a public health expert, conducted a study showing that 3.8 billion individuals around the world now face a risk of contracting dengue fever as a result of rising temperatures. His research shows that nearly half of the global population now faces the dengue fever infection risk. 

Extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, increase the risk of infectious diseases. This explains why cases of diseases like cholera spike after flooding. Additionally, extreme weather events displace people, making it harder for disease surveillance and management to be undertaken. 

Climate extremes also influence respiratory viruses, according to numerous studies. For example, abnormally low or abnormally high levels of humidity have been linked to elevated transmission of flu. 

As global warming continues, it is clear that infectious diseases are going to become more rampant, and public health systems and policymakers need to prepare for these outbreaks. One key proactive measure is in expanding access to accurate diagnostic tools to detect these cases as soon as possible. 

The challenge is that most advanced testing capabilities are concentrated in centralized labs, and this makes those testing services inaccessible where they are most needed, such as when floods displace large numbers of people. 

A number of for-profit entities, such as Co-Diagnostics Inc. (NASDAQ: CODX), are taking on this challenge and developing diagnostics that can be used at home and at points of care without compromising reliability. The infectious disease risk is growing as climate changes, and each stakeholder needs to do what they can to blunt the blow of the knock-on effects of climate change. 

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