Op-Ed: How climate change is nudging us toward the next pandemic (via latimesopinion)
Bouts of extreme precipitation, along with worsening drought and heat, are creating more of the dangerous dust, experts say.
Changes in temperature and precipitation shift the geographical ranges of animals — including mosquitoes, ticks, birds and small mammals — into the environs of humans. Storms and floods displace people from their lands and lead them closer to animals that spread disease. That means we’ll have more and more contact with wildlife, the organisms they carry and the illnesses that ensue.
The recent flooding in Pakistan after an unprecedented monsoon season offers a stark example. The country was alreadywhich contaminates water sources. Floods have since disrupted vaccination, medical care and disease monitoring strategies essential to controlling the outbreak. Where large bodies of water stagnate, mosquitoes that harbor