Climate Change and Emerging Infectious Diseases: A Biomedical Perspective

Abstract

Climate change is converting ecosystems into deserts while other plant and animal species are pushed to the brink of extinction.  Among this, the rising and re-emerging of infectious diseases is quite alarming. The disease-carrying vectors, like mosquitoes and ticks, spread to new locations because of increased temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, humidity, and land usage, which all affect the distribution and lifecycle of vectors, pathogens, and hosts. This review investigates the various ways by which climate change can cause infectious diseases to emerge. These include vector-borne, zoonotic, waterborne, and foodborne diseases. The study looks at how human migration, urban drifting, and socio-political events impact disease transmission. It also looks at how the latest biomedical tools, like genomics, AI, and real-time surveillance, can improve disease preparedness. In the end, the countries of the world, power players, and nations as a whole, also need to set global policies to treat infectious diseases from climate change.