In a One Health framework, how does climate change influence infectious disease emergence?

In a One Health framework, how does climate change influence infectious disease emergence?

• A. It shifts habitats, vectors, and reservoir dynamics, increasing exposure and altering transmission across species.
• B. It only affects human exposure directly.
• C. It reduces pathogen mutation rates.
• D. It eliminates wildlife reservoirs.

Answer: (A)

Climate change reshapes the ecology of hosts, vectors, and pathogens by altering environments where species live and interact. Warmer temperatures, changed rainfall patterns, and more extreme events push vectors like mosquitoes and ticks into new regions, shift where wildlife reservoirs are found, and change the timing and intensity of pathogen transmission. These ecological shifts create new contact opportunities among species—humans, livestock, and wildlife—raising the chance of spillover and the emergence of infectious disease. In a One Health view, emergence results from interconnected processes across ecosystems, not just a direct effect on humans. The idea that climate change affects humans only directly misses the broader cascade through animals and environments, and it doesn’t imply reduced mutation rates or the elimination of wildlife reservoirs, which aren’t supported by current evidence.

Climate change reshapes the ecology of hosts, vectors, and pathogens by altering environments where species live and interact. Warmer temperatures, changed rainfall patterns, and more extreme events push vectors like mosquitoes and ticks into new regions, shift where wildlife reservoirs are found, and change the timing and intensity of pathogen transmission. These ecological shifts create new contact opportunities among species—humans, livestock, and wildlife—raising the chance of spillover and the emergence of infectious disease. In a One Health view, emergence results from interconnected processes across ecosystems, not just a direct effect on humans. The idea that climate change affects humans only directly misses the broader cascade through animals and environments, and it doesn’t imply reduced mutation rates or the elimination of wildlife reservoirs, which aren’t supported by current evidence.