Last fall Politico ran a special feature on global health that featured a graphic presentation of increased incidence of insect-borne diseases in the United States from 2004 to 2013, blaming the increase on global warming. "Warming global temperatures are changing the range and behavior of disease-carrying insects like mosquitos and ticks and extending the seasons in which they are active. As a result, incidence of the diseases they carry---including Lyme, spotted fever, West Nile and … [Read more...]
Is Global Warming to Blame for Spread of “Tropical” Diseases?
The New York Times has just published an article claiming that global warming is (partly) to blame for the spread of various "tropical" diseases to the U.S. and other areas where previously they had been eradicated or had never existed. Donald G. McNeil Jr. begins his article titled "U.S. Becomes More Vulnerable to Tropical Diseases Like Zika" thus: Tropical diseases---some of them never before seen in the United States---are marching northward as climate change lets mosquitoes and ticks expand … [Read more...]