Climate Change and Communicable Diseases: A European Perspective

The need for public health response to climate change in Europe has become apparent in recent years. The climatic impact will not only affect mean meteorological measures but is also manifested in a shift to more extreme weather patterns. High minimum and maximum temperatures, heat waves, excessive precipitation, storm surges, and droughts are part of this phenomenon. Emerging threats from infectious diseases have been linked to global climate change such as the spread of Lyme disease or tick-borne encephalitis in Scandinavia. The implications for public health are far reaching but are most likely being underestimated. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is a new EU agency, founded in the aftermath of the SARS pandemic and at the dawn of the recurrent avian influenza outbreaks in 2003, with the mandate to prevent and control communicable disease transmission in Europe. ECDC has focused on developing a comprehensive surveillance system for the EU, setting up a system for rapid response to outbreaks and epidemics, and establishing a unit for scientific advice. Climatic changes have triggered accelerated developments in public health to respond to these challenges; the goal is to provide timely alerts of emerging epidemics or unusual conditions to assure effective interventions. As part of these efforts ECDC has convened a group of European experts in April 2007 to discuss these challenges. European strategies for a public health response to global climate change will be presented, including real-time surveillance, syndromic surveillance, or interoperability prepardness plans.