April 19, 2016 – Climate Change and Health

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Anchor lead: Climate change is likely to have a big impact on health, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Climate change will result in a host of consequences for all of us, President Obama’s recent report on the matter asserts, including substantial health impact.  Redonda Miller, an internal medicine expert at Johns Hopkins, enumerates some of the likely outcomes.

Miller: There are obvious health links to the fact that temperatures are going up. Worsening heat waves.  Heat related illness is something to be taken seriously, heat shock heat trauma, people die from this.  Two, worsening air quality with the subsequent airway exacerbations, asthma, COPD and what that means for patients.  Longer allergy seasons, and then finally warmer weather brings more mosquitos, more ticks. Thing about dengue fever, Zika virus, Lyme.  All of those diseases could become more common and prevalent.  :32

Miller says everyone will need to become more aware of these diseases and conditions to reduce their impact, obtaining vaccines when they are available and avoiding spreading diseases to others. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.