Helena Stage (University of Bristol)

The role of climate change in altering the risk of vector-borne disease

As climate change accelerates, vectors of communicable diseases (e.g. tiger mosquitoes transmitting dengue) may be found in greater numbers in European climates, where there are currently relatively few recorded incidents of autochthonous transmission. We are thus faced with a new array of risks and challenges to public health prevention and treatment strategies. These risks are not to be ignored, with prior documented cases of malaria outbreaks in Europe during the medieval warming period.
In this talk, we will discuss these data-based and methodological challenges, and the time-scales over which risk prevention strategies can reasonably be implemented.