Transcript Lyme Disease Eastern Equine Encephalitis West Nile Virus

Public Health Impacts of Climate
Change in Maine
Dr. Dora Anne Mills, MD, MPH
Director, Maine Center for Disease Control
↑ Heat-related morbidity
and mortality
↑ Vector-borne diseases
(Lyme, EEE, West Nile)
↑ Air temperatures
• Warmer winters
• Hotter summers
• More heat waves
↑ Pollen, Ozone
↑ Asthma
CLIMATE
CHANGE
↑ Water
↑ Frequency of severe
storms, flooding
temperatures
↑ Frequency of
waterborne disease
outbreaks (crypto,
E. coli, giardiasis)
↑ Precipitation
↑ Algal blooms
(Red tide, cyanobacteria)
Vector Borne Disease
Lyme Disease
Eastern Equine Encephalitis
West Nile Virus
Lyme Disease in Maine
Lyme Disease Incidence, Maine and US, 2003-2009
Maine
US
New England
Rate per 100,000
100
80
60
40
20
0
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Lyme Disease Incidence in Maine has been Increasing
2009
Lyme Disease in Maine
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
Lyme Disease is becoming more widespread in Maine
Eastern Equine Encephalitis
• First identified in ME in
2005
• One horse death and
one human death (a
visitor to Maine) in
2008
• 15 horses, 1 llama, 3
flocks of pheasants,
and 2 mosquito pools
diagnosed with EEE in
2009
Mosquito. Image: Maine-CDC
Horses in a field, Biddeford, ME Image: dinidesign, Flickr
Eastern Equine Encephalitis
Positive Animals
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
West Nile Virus
• No human cases
identified in Maine
• Bird monitoring –
ended in 2007
• Mosquito monitoring
Mosquito. Image: Maine-CDC
West Nile Virus
Positive Birds
2002
2001
2006
2005
2004
2003
Heat Related Morbidity
Air Pollution
Air Pollution
Daily percent change in ED asthma-related visits for Greater Portland HSA area
for 10 ppb change In ozone levels
40%
30%
20%
% change in ED
Visits, per 10 ppb 10%
Ozone
16%
14%
9%
6%
0%
-10%
-10%
-20%
-30%
2000
(4)
2001
(14)
2002
(17)
2003
(5)
2000-2003
Severe storms & flooding
Harmful Algal Blooms
Public Health Infrastructure
Eight Public Health Districts  28 Healthy Maine Partnerships
Adapting to Climate Change
It's not enough to be busy. The question is: What are we busy about?
- Henry David Thoreau