American Society for Microbiology “More Americans are at risk than ever before as mosquitoes and ticks are moving into new areas of the country, increasing cases and geographic ranges of vector-borne diseases.” said Christopher Braden, M.D., the Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Center for Emerging and Infectious Zoonotic Diseases.
He and others who spoke at ASM’s July 15, 2022, webinar, “Vector-Borne Disease in a Changing Climate,” emphasized the fact that climate change is having a collective impact on all vector-borne diseases, including chikungunya, Zika, West Nile virus, malaria, yellow fever, dengue and many others. Since 2005, the number of vector-borne disease cases in the U.S. has doubled, and 10 novel pathogens have been discovered. Globalization and an ongoing geographic expansion promoted by warmer summers is allowing ticks, including those carrying bacteria that cause Lyme disease, and other vectors that carry pathogens to migrate farther north.