Spring Break
Disease: The Hidden Threat Of Global Warming
Christopher Duray
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: News
FARMINGTON - The looming threat of global warming has always centered around climatic events such as melting icecaps flooding the earth. As it turns out, a big problem people may be overlooking is the diseases that could emerge from the rising temperature.
At the UConn Health Center in Farmington Wednesday night, Dr. Mitch Kennedy discussed the way the effects of global warming may have a larger impact on our physical health than previously suspected.
Kennedy is a Naturopathic physician, the first to join the staff of the UConn Health Center, where he sees patients and works as an instructor. He also runs a practice in Avon. Kennedy is a passionate environmentalist, having spent 17 years running an industrial pollution prevention consulting firm before he entered medicine. Wednesday's lecture marked his tenth lecture on global warming, having been one of many people trained by Al Gore on ways to present global climate change awareness.
Kennedy spoke for an hour, first touching on the trends that show the steadily warming planet and its increasing levels of carbon dioxide, and then moving on to how this affects the planet's population. Warm climates and increased levels of carbon dioxide are perfect breeding grounds for diseases. Because climate change has rendered winter shorter, diseases usually killed off by the cold have a longer chance to survive and infect people.
Warm weather also affects disease vectors, which are carriers that transport viruses from one place to another. A common vector would be a wild animal like a bird or dog. The weather allows for this carrier to enjoy a longer breeding period so that more carriers are created to infect even more people.
Because of these factors, Kennedy blames more and more diseases that have been emerging since the 1970s on global warming. Diseases like Ebola, Lyme disease, E. Coli or Legionnaire's spreading can be attributed to climate change. Still others still have been making a resurgence, such as the West Nile Virus, Avian Bird Flu, or in some places, even the Bubonic Plague.
At the UConn Health Center in Farmington Wednesday night, Dr. Mitch Kennedy discussed the way the effects of global warming may have a larger impact on our physical health than previously suspected.
Kennedy is a Naturopathic physician, the first to join the staff of the UConn Health Center, where he sees patients and works as an instructor. He also runs a practice in Avon. Kennedy is a passionate environmentalist, having spent 17 years running an industrial pollution prevention consulting firm before he entered medicine. Wednesday's lecture marked his tenth lecture on global warming, having been one of many people trained by Al Gore on ways to present global climate change awareness.
Kennedy spoke for an hour, first touching on the trends that show the steadily warming planet and its increasing levels of carbon dioxide, and then moving on to how this affects the planet's population. Warm climates and increased levels of carbon dioxide are perfect breeding grounds for diseases. Because climate change has rendered winter shorter, diseases usually killed off by the cold have a longer chance to survive and infect people.
Warm weather also affects disease vectors, which are carriers that transport viruses from one place to another. A common vector would be a wild animal like a bird or dog. The weather allows for this carrier to enjoy a longer breeding period so that more carriers are created to infect even more people.
Because of these factors, Kennedy blames more and more diseases that have been emerging since the 1970s on global warming. Diseases like Ebola, Lyme disease, E. Coli or Legionnaire's spreading can be attributed to climate change. Still others still have been making a resurgence, such as the West Nile Virus, Avian Bird Flu, or in some places, even the Bubonic Plague.
Be the first to comment on this story