Is Climate Change Responsible for the Spread of West Nile Virus?
Topic(s): Climate Scenario: Temperature increases associated with global climate change have led to concerns that infectious diseases common in warmer tropical and subtropical climates may become more common in warming, middle latitudes. A dramatic spread in tropical and subtropical infectious diseases could imperil significant human and animal populations in North America and Europe that lack immunity and resistance to these foreign diseases. West Nile Virus (WNV) is a serious disease that is spread through mosquito bites producing symptoms in humans similar to meningitis or encephalitis (inflammation of the spinal cord and brain) including fever, chills, nausea and vomiting, headache and body ache. Although symptoms for most people are mild, the disease for some can have long-lasting effects such as chronic fatigue, headaches and dementia-like symptoms. Mortality from WNV also occurs especially in young children, the elderly and those with already compromised immune systems. Before 1
