WHEN WE THINK about global warming, we might fret about rising sea levels, higher temperatures, and melting Mount Hood glaciers. Here’s what we don’t consider, but probably should: never-ending allergies, more cases of asthma, and even malaria.

And now local public health officials and environmental advocates—sounding the alarm and working on ways to deal with all that bad-health fallout—say there may be nothing we can do to stop it.

“Global warming is probably the biggest public health threat of the 21st century,” says Maye Thompson, environmental health program director for Oregon’s chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Thompson paints a bleak picture. Hotter summer months could be lethal for elderly Portlanders. Allergy seasons will last longer and intensify. More days with air pollution will cause, or worsen, heart disease and respiratory illnesses like asthma.

Weather will become more “severe.” That means more heat waves in the summer, and heavier rain or snow in the winter. Lingering floodwaters would become a breeding ground for waterborne illnesses like cholera.

Then there’s the small slice of the region’s mosquito population known to carry nasty germs like West Nile virus, encephalitis, and malaria.

Malaria was once a fact of life in Portland, especially throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Cases were recorded as late as the 1930s, when insecticides and the dredging of marshes reduced the mosquito population.

“This idea of more diseases carried by mosquitoes,” Thompson says, “that kind of thing could come back.”

Two species of the Anopheles mosquito, the genus of mosquito that transmits malaria, remain in Multnomah County, making up about 6 percent of the total population, says Multnomah County vector control specialist Carl Pierce.

And a species native to Asia but first discovered here in 2006, Ochlerotatus japonicus, has also established itself, Pierce says. The newcomer bites during the day, not just at night, and is known to transmit West Nile virus and dengue fever. The Anopheles species, also present in Multnomah County, transmits malaria.

“Having another species that can transmit viruses, and is a day-biter, kind of increases the potential for disease transmission,” Pierce says. For now, the weather is too cool for that to happen. But if temperatures heat up even slightly, he thinks the mosquito population would increase.

That global warming will cause health problems is beyond doubt, says Stacy Vynne, the adaptation and preparedness program director at the University of Oregon’s Climate Leadership Initiative.

But no one really knows how severe the problems will be.

“Right now, we have generalizations like ‘asthma might get worse’ or ‘pulmonary disease might get worse,'” says Kari Lyons-Eubanks, a policy analyst in Multnomah County’s environmental health office.

But, Thompson, Vynne, and others say it may not take so long, either. “In terms of really vulnerable parts of the globe, like the Arctic, changes predicted for 2050 are already happening,” Thompson says.

In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control split a $5.2 million grant between 10 states, including Oregon, to tackle the health effects of global warming.

Lyons-Eubanks is creating a detailed map of Multnomah County that will show, down to the street level, climate forecasts, air quality trends, pollen counts, tree canopies, and other elements that affect our climate. The map, expected to take a year, will also delineate health disparities and show where people of different socioeconomic classes, ethnicities, and health problems live.

Officials will then use the data to make what changes they can—seeking out heat pockets, for example, and then swapping pavement for trees when possible.

It doesn’t sound like much. But even small changes can help, especially if they’re all a community can do.

“It gets down to ‘turn off your lights’ and ‘don’t drive as much,'” Thompson says. “Totally unsexy.”

This article has been corrected since it’s original version. The diseases transmitted by a mosquito species were initially incorrect.

Amanda is a freelance writer based in Portland, OR. She focuses mostly on homeless and social justice issues.

15 replies on “Break Out the Mosquito Nets!”

  1. Here’s a sexy idea: how about offering real solutions that deal with the root cause of climate change? This includes ending imperialist war and making industry pay for their massive waste of energy and pollution of the environment.

    It’s not enough to ask individuals to turn off lights.

  2. Fuck turning off your lights and driving less. You need a serious wake-up call! Industrial civilization is destroying all life on this planet and you are offering up these petty Al Gore-esque ideas of reducing your carbon footprint. This would be laughable if it weren’t so sad. Humans need to return to a paleolithic diet, stop using electricity entirely, tear down the dams that are responsible for destroying so many natural food sources that could be sustaining our life in a humble way.

    We have a hyper crop of humans that the corporate thugs see as completely disposable living in abject poverty to rot and die. We need action to tear this system down, not good light switch habits.

  4. Solid news article, Merc. More of this!

    On the topic, the real challenge is plant extinction. Plants can’t migrate very quickly.

    Know people with malaria, and it is nasty. Never knew it was here, and that J-bug sounds bad. But the cure is absinthe.

  5. While I am far from one of those ‘Global Warming Deniers’ (fools) I must also add I’ve been hearing about what is now called Global Warming for 30 years now, and each time the time frame was about 20 years from now, till much sooner. Coastal flooding. Cities such as Calcutta will simply be gone, etc. Still hasn’t happened to the extent I’ve been hearing all these years.
    Somehow though I just don’t think Global Warming will be the biggest health threat to mankind in the 21st century. Could be wrong, but….
    I shall take the opinions in this article with a BIG grain of salt.

  7. I wish they never latched onto the phrase “Global Warming”. Climate Change is far more accurate of a term as it is all inclusive.(i.e. changes in precipitation patterns, sea levels, temperatures etc. Plus the only time I hear someone mention Global Warming is when they are busy trying to deny humans have had any negative impact on the environment whatsoever.

    MIT, Inadvertent Climate Modification: Report of the Study of Man’s Impact on Climate (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1971), Wallace Broecker, “Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?” Science, vol. 189 (8 August 1975).

  8. @Franklieb, agreed it is indeed a real phenomena, but poorly understood even now. Does man play a role? I would say yes but to what degree? Climate change occurs all the time, and did so well before the industrial revolution, in fact it occurred when we were carrying spears (not Britney. And I know,”we were agricultural”. Um…no. History/Anthropology fail. see ya next term). So, global warming eh? The out breaks of dengue/ yellow fever, etc in Asia and India,etc basically occurred because Indian and African mosquito’s either cross bred (possible within the genus) or African Mosquito’s ended up there(or possible human host vectoring). This is relevant because prior to this the disease’s in question where only prevalent in Africa along with all kinds of other lovely stuff. There has not been a huge climate change on that continent. It also is’nt to hard to figure out how mosquito’s from Asia ended up here (I don’t really have to tell you do I?). There may very well be a genetic mutation ongoing in the mosquito genus, as these viruses appear to be changing. In fact the subtype of mosquito does’nt matter as other types can become vectors for disease by feeding on infected humans or primates. In fact there is a nice warning for Rift Valley Fever in North America. Charming, but it has absolutely zero to do with global warming. Incidentally the Aedes species of mosquito can survive cold weather (even snow) and is a disease carrier. And It’s here! Feel better? Btw, I was just outside…does’nt feel to warm for July

  11. The article indicated that the 5.2 million ‘is to tackle the health effects of global warming’, that doesn’t sound like a study but actual disease prevention like spraying for mosquitos or what not. So that actually ends up being a drop in the bucket.

  14. Part of controlling the problem is in fact Mosquito spraying. I have found little environmental or scientific resistance to this measure

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