Climate change and infectious diseases in the Arctic: establishment of a circumpolar working group.
Alan J Parkinson, Birgitta Evengard, Jan C Semenza, Nicholas Ogden, Malene L Børresen, Jim Berner, Michael Brubaker, Anders Sjöstedt, Magnus Evander, David M Hondula, Bettina Menne, Natalia Pshenichnaya, Prabhu Gounder, Tricia Larose, Boris Revich, Karsten Hueffer, Ann Albihn
Author Information
Alan J Parkinson: Arctic Investigations Program, Division of Preparedness and Emerging Infections, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Anchorage, AK, USA.
Birgitta Evengard: Arctic Research Centre (ARCUM), Umea University, Umeå, Sweden ; Division of Infectious Diseases, Umea University, Umeå, Sweden.
Jan C Semenza: Office of the Chief Scientist, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden.
Nicholas Ogden: Zoonoses Division Centre for Food-borne, Environmental & Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Public Health Agency of Canada, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada.
Malene L Børresen: Department of Epidemiology Research, Staten Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jim Berner: Division of Community Health Services, Alaska Native Health Consortium, Anchorage, AK, USA.
Michael Brubaker: Division of Community Health Services, Alaska Native Health Consortium, Anchorage, AK, USA.
Anders Sjöstedt: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Bacteriology, Umea University, Umea, Sweden.
Magnus Evander: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Virology, Umeå University, Umea, Sweden.
David M Hondula: School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA ; School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
Bettina Menne: Global Change and Health, WHO Regional Office for Europe, European Centre for Environment and Health, Rome, Italy.
Natalia Pshenichnaya: Department of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology, Rostov State Medical University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
Prabhu Gounder: Arctic Investigations Program, Division of Preparedness and Emerging Infections, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Anchorage, AK, USA.
Tricia Larose: Department of Public Health and General Practice, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Boris Revich: Institute of Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Karsten Hueffer: Department of Biology & Wildlife, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
Ann Albihn: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinarian Public Health, University of Agricultural Sciences and National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden.
The Arctic, even more so than other parts of the world, has warmed substantially over the past few decades. Temperature and humidity influence the rate of development, survival and reproduction of pathogens and thus the incidence and prevalence of many infectious diseases. Higher temperatures may also allow infected host species to survive winters in larger numbers, increase the population size and expand their habitat range. The impact of these changes on human disease in the Arctic has not been fully evaluated. There is concern that climate change may shift the geographic and temporal distribution of a range of infectious diseases. Many infectious diseases are climate sensitive, where their emergence in a region is dependent on climate-related ecological changes. Most are zoonotic diseases, and can be spread between humans and animals by arthropod vectors, water, soil, wild or domestic animals. Potentially climate-sensitive zoonotic pathogens of circumpolar concern include Brucella spp., Toxoplasma gondii, Trichinella spp., Clostridium botulinum, Francisella tularensis, Borrelia burgdorferi, Bacillus anthracis, Echinococcus spp., Leptospira spp., Giardia spp., Cryptosporida spp., Coxiella burnetti, rabies virus, West Nile virus, Hantaviruses, and tick-borne encephalitis viruses.
