1.3.7.3 Emerging food- and water-borne diseases

Food- and water-borne diseases (WBD) are major adverse conditions associated with warming and extreme precipitation events. Bacterial infectious diseases are sometimes sensitive to temperature, e.g., salmonellosis (D’Souza et al., 2004), and WBD outbreaks are sometimes caused by extreme rainfall (Casman et al., 2001; Curriero et al., 2001; Rose et al., 2002; Charron et al., 2004; Diergaardt et al., 2004) but, again, no attribution to longer-term trends in climate has been attempted.

1.3.7.4 Pollen- and dust-related diseases

There is good evidence that observed climate change is affecting the timing of the onset of allergenic pollen production. Studies, mostly from Europe, indicate that the pollen season has started earlier (but later at high latitudes) in recent decades, and that such shifts are consistent with observed changes in climate. The results concerning pollen abundance are more variable, as pollen abundance can be more strongly influenced by land-use changes and farming practices (Teranishi et al., 2000; Rasmussen, 2002; Van Vliet et al., 2002; Emberlin et al., 2003; WHO, 2003; Beggs, 2004; Beggs and Bambrick, 2005) (see Section 1.3.5). There is some evidence that temperature changes have increased pollen abundance or allergenicity (Beggs, 2004) (see Chapter 8, Section 8.2.7). Changing agricultural practices, such as the replacement of haymaking in favour of silage production, have also affected the grass-pollen season in Europe.

The impact on health of dust and dust storms has not been well described in the literature. Dust related to African droughts has been transported across the Atlantic to the Caribbean (Prospero and Lamb, 2003), while a dramatic increase in respiratory disease in the Caribbean has been attributed to increases in Sahara dust, which has in turn, been linked to climate change (Gyan et al., 2003).