{"id":1334548,"date":"2023-11-16T09:15:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T09:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=622951"},"modified":"2023-11-16T09:15:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T09:15:00","slug":"its-not-just-extreme-weather-climate-sensitive-diseases-are-spreading-through-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/11\/16\/its-not-just-extreme-weather-climate-sensitive-diseases-are-spreading-through-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not just extreme weather: \u2018Climate-sensitive\u2019 diseases are spreading through the US"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
This week, the United States government and leading climate researchers from institutions across the country released the Fifth National Climate Assessment<\/a>, a report that takes stock of the ways in which climate change affects quality of life in the U.S. The assessment breaks down<\/a> these impacts geographically \u2014 into 10 distinct regions encompassing all of the country\u2019s states, territories, and tribal lands \u2014 and forecasts how global warming will influence these regions in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike other climate change-focused reports that are released annually, the National Climate Assessment comes out once every four years. The length of time between reports, and the volume of research each report contains, allow its authors to make concrete observations about climate-driven trends unfolding from coast to coast and island to island. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the previous installment<\/a> of the report, released in 2018, the government warned that rising temperatures, extreme weather events, drought, and flooding threatened to unleash a surge of fungal pathogens, toxic algal blooms, mosquito- and tick-borne illnesses, and other climate-linked diseases. The new report, published on Tuesday, demonstrates that this prediction is unfolding right on schedule. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHealth risks from a changing climate,\u201d the report says, include \u201cincreases in the geographic range of some infectious diseases.\u201d West Nile virus, dengue fever, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, rabies, and Valley fever, carried by mosquitoes, ticks, mammals, and soil, are among the infectious diseases the report has identified as \u201cclimate sensitive.\u201d Climate change isn\u2019t the only reason more people are being affected by these illnesses \u2014 urban sprawl, deforestation, cyclical environmental changes, and other influences are also at play \u2014 but it\u2019s a clear contributing factor<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are a few of the diseases that the Fifth National Climate Assessment warns are spreading into new parts of the country as a changing climate sends their carriers creeping into different areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n