Climate change affects how diseases spread by animals, food and water. These shifts in the physical environment due to extreme weather changes can lead to outbreaks of diseases previously confined to specific regions, impacting our health.
Diseases spread by animals
Some illnesses are carried and spread by animals like mosquitoes and ticks. Warm winters allow some disease-carrying animals to survive longer than usual. Increased temperatures in cool climates change the range of normal animal habitats. This increases the risk of diseases.
Learn more about diseases transmitted by carriers and how you can adapt:
Foodborne diseases
Changes in temperature, rainfall, and weather can negatively affect crop health and increase harmful bacteria and parasites in food. This can spread foodborne illnesses.
Learn more about food safety and foodborne illness:
- Food, water and beverage safety
- Food safety: Easy ways to make food safer (HealthLinkBC File #59a)
- Giardia infection (HealthLinkBC File #10)
- Cryptosporidium infection (HealthLinkBC File #48)
- Campylobacter infection (HealthLinkBC File #58)
- E coli infection (HealthLinkBC File #02)
- Listeriosis (HealthLinkBC File #75)
- Salmonellosis (HealthLinkBC File #17)
Toxoplasmosis (HealthLinkBC File #43)
Waterborne diseases
Increasing temperatures and changes in rainfall affect water in places like lakes and beaches. Flooding can cause sewage systems to overflow, releasing diseases into the bodies of water and the environment.
Learn more about the health risks associated with waterborne diseases:
- Waterborne infections in British Columbia (HealthLinkBC File #49a)
- Preventing water-borne infections for people with weakened immune systems (HealthLinkBC File #56)
- Cyanobacteria blooms (blue-green algae) (HealthLinkBC File #47)
Get information on contaminants in drinking water and how to manage them:
- Disinfecting drinking water (HealthLinkBC File #49b)
- Arsenic in drinking water (HealthLinkBC File #49c)
- Drinking water chlorination facts (HealthLinkBC File #49d)
- Lead in drinking water (HealthLinkBC File #49e)
- Manganese in drinking water (HealthLinkBC File #49g)
- Well water testing (HealthLinkBC File #05b)
Useful resources
Provides information and resources to monitor, prevent and adapt to the health impacts of infectious diseases in Canada.
Learn how climate change impacts tick-borne disease risk, and how this is being addressed in Western Canada.
Provides information and resources for drinking water safety guidelines and drinking water contaminants in Canada.
