Public Health Laboratories Must be Ready to Respond to Extreme Weather Events
Extreme weather is a serious threat to the health and safety of all people in the US and across the globe. As extreme weather increases, there are many risks, including food system disruptions, harmful algal blooms and increases in the spread of diseases. The effects of extreme weather events have grave implications for public health.
While the effects of extreme weather events vary from region to region, extreme weather events can impact all inhabitants of Earth. Scientists predict increasing frequency and intensity of storms and flooding will lead to more diseases and death, by way of water contamination and transmission of vector-borne disease.
Public Health Laboratories and Extreme Weather
Environmental and public health laboratories play a critical role in testing related to extreme weather: responding to disasters, infectious disease and foodborne outbreaks. Extreme weather events (such as heat waves, floods, hurricanes and more) may occur more frequently and more severely all over the world, and our ability to protect the health of our families and neighbors becomes more difficult. In some parts of the world, droughts and floods damage food and water sources leading to malnutrition or disease. Sometimes droughts force families to relocate, leaving behind their homes and their way of life, causing mental distress. Additionally, with increasing temperatures, the risk of emerging or reemerging infectious diseases (i.e., malaria or dengue fever) increases.