Q: I’ve seen all the doomsday movies about climate change and the effects it might eventually have on my health, but are there any harmful repercussions I need to be worried about right now?
A: Actually, yes. In a recent article in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Dr. Richard Weber reported that climate change has been linked to “longer pollen seasons, greater exposure [to allergens and pollen], and increased disease burden for late summer weeds such as…ragweed.” Higher levels of carbon dioxide have pushed up ragweed pollen production 60 to 90 percent, making climate change hellish for allergy sufferers. But if you travel in the developing world, that’s not even the worst of it. Warmer temperatures and greater moisture may extend the geographical ranges and seasons for disease-carrying insects. The World Health Organization has reported a heat-induced rise in organism-borne diseases such as dengue fever. And some cities in Africa once less prone to malaria outbreaks, thanks to their high altitudes, are now at a heightened risk of the disease because of increasing temperatures. From 2000 to 2006, reported malaria cases doubled worldwide. I’ve seen evidence of this already. I was in Nairobi, Kenya, and Harare, Zimbabwe, recently, and I was quite alarmed by the number of mosquitoes I saw. Fortunately for asthma sufferers, there are new medications, such as Symbicort, that work faster and keep airways open longer than older medications. To help prevent organism-born illness, be sure to use bug spray, and don’t leave food lying around.
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Email your questions for Dr. Bob Arnot to dr.bob@mensjournal.com.
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This article originally appeared in the May 2009 issue of Men’s Journal.
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July 21st, 2009 at 4:26 pm
This has been one of the coldest winters, and was 2 days away from being the longest stretch in recorded histroy without an 80 degree day in Northern MInnesota. Yet, NPR has linked global warming to a more toxic poison ivy species…and altered bird migrations…and a whole bunch of bogus science in our area. I have a degree in cell molecular bio., and another in general biology. So the rant I’m going on might actually have some merit behind it. The actions of our country treating global warming as a contributing factor to some natural phenoms occuring is a huge mistake, not only to our tax dollars but to our future scientists who get to watch this folly with out science research behind it.
I’m all for going green, but the global warming push behind it borders on insanity when the science behind it is gone
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