Climate Change, Weather and Health (Malaria)

The weather in Toronto and and right across Canada is getting more extreme.  July had record rainfalls in Toronto, while Vancouver had record drought. For the first time in my life, I saw a 6 foot water geyser spouting out of the sewer in front of my house for about 10 seconds after a flash rainfall and flooding streets.  Too much water in the sewer system all at once, I guess.

A funnel cloud created a rare waterspout over the St. Lawrence River at Montreal Harbour on Wednesday, July 23, 2008.  This traditionally happens only in the tropics.

The USA is reporting a more severe tornado season too along and outside of tornado alley...see  Experts: Twisters Getting Larger, Deadlier

Today a new report urges Ottawa to expect more health problems as climate changes.

OTTAWA — A major report on climate change and health forecasts a higher risk of injuries, illnesses and stress-related disorders brought on by more frequent bouts of extreme weather.

A not-yet-released Health Canada report urges the federal government to brace Canadians for health problems arising from more droughts, violent storms, heat waves and cold snaps.

"Those things have effects on us in a variety of ways, including our human health," said University of Western Ontario professor Gordon McBean, one of the report's authors.

The 500-page report, part of which was obtained by The Canadian Press, says a changing climate will put the elderly, young children and those with low incomes at the greatest risk.

The report also says natural hazards will indirectly affect health by damaging infrastructure, displacing people and interrupting services or health care.

"Risks to the health of Canadians from natural hazards and extreme weather will increase as the climate continues to change," the report says.

As similar report earlier this year in the UK warned about increased malaria outbreaks

"The UK is to be hit by regular malaria outbreaks, fatal heat waves and contaminated drinking water within five years because of global warming, the Government has warned the NHS." 

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the USA offers an even more frightening possibility. Malaria will increase. regardless of whether we get global warming or global cooling.

Many people are shocked to find out that malaria was even more prevalent in Europe, even during the little ice age, an extreme cooling period in the 15-17th centuries.  This is a realistic possibility again, if we are in store for a probable bout of global cooling, due to 200 year sun spot cycle lull, that could affect the world by 2014.

"Present global temperatures are in a warming phase that began 200 to 300 years ago.  Some climate models suggest that human activities may have exacerbated this phase by raising the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.  Discussions of the potential effects of the weather include predictions that malaria will emerge from the tropics and become established in Europe and North America.  The complex ecology and transmission dynamics of the disease, as well as accounts of its early history, refute such predictions.  Until the second half of the 20th century, malaria was endemic and widespread in many temperate regions, with major epidemics as far north as the Arctic Circle.  From 1564 to the 1730s,the coldest period of the Little Ice Age malaria was an important cause of illness and death in several parts of England.  Transmission began to decline only in the 19th century, when the present warming trend was well under way.  The history of the disease in England underscores the role of factors other than temperature in malaria transmission."

[..]

"Discussions of the potential impact of human-induced global warming frequently include malaria, a disease widely perceived as tropical.  Articles in the popular and scientific press have predicted that warmer temperatures will result in malaria transmission in Europe and North America (7-12).  Such predictions, often based on simple computer models, overlook malaria's history; until recently, malaria was endemic and common in many temperate regions, and major epidemics extended as far north as the Arctic Circle."

See CDC report

Update: According to a Telegraph story in  the UK: White House buries climate change deaths report

"The White House buried a report prepared by US government scientists which detailed a rising death toll from heat waves, fires, disease and smog they predicted would be caused by global warming.

Environmental advocates accused President George W Bush's administration of delaying the release of the 149-page report so that it could avoid regulating greenhouse gases."

© 2005-2008 Walter Derzko -"Changing the world, one idea at a time"©

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