Does that mean the public health problems associated with global warming are essentially about mosquito-borne disease?
No, there are many health issues affected by a changing climate — for instance, the 1993 emergence of hantavirus, which is a rodent-borne disease. A six-year-long drought in the Southwest had decreased the numbers of rodent-eating predators. Then came unusually early rains, which provided a bounty of food for the rodents. The rodent population exploded elevenfold. That led to the proliferation of animals carrying hanta — and ultimately to the deaths of 32 people that year. There are also new health problems arising among returnees to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, which is the kind of weather extreme we can expect more of with global warming. There’s a new syndrome, “Katrina cough.” Mold is everywhere — flooding fosters fungi. Toxins are ubiquitous. (See “Rough Burial,” page 28, and “Health Threats Linger in New Orleans,” page 42.) What about the rise in asthma rates nationally? Is that associated in any way with global warming? Well, many factors contribute to asthma, includi
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