What's the Buzz with Climate Change?

With rising temperatures and a changing climate, the range of disease vectors continues to expand into novel areas. This will expose people and animal populations to new diseases, but this issue is seldom discussed in public discourse. Therefore, we bring this issue to the forefront using bluetongue as a model for expanding vector-borne diseases, their impacts on livestock populations, and how we can best enact change in our communities and beyond. Episode Hosts: Caroline Kern-Allely, Tiera McAdam, Adam Hernandez Course Coordinators & Podcast Ringmasters: Colleen Duncan, Molly Carpenter, Treana Mayer Sound Editor: Ethan Fagre Guest: Dr. Christie Mayo, DVM, PhD Summary: We spoke to Cam the Ram, Colorado State University’s beloved mascot, in order to get a better understanding of what’s been bugging him about climate change. One problem he kept ruminating on was the potential influence of climate change on vector-borne diseases. We began to investigate the issue of vector-borne diseases and discovered that they will increase in prevalence with rising temperatures. Warmer temperatures allow vectors to expand into novel ranges, increase their infective seasons, and change their transmission dynamics. We focused on bluetongue virus disease (BVD) to tell the story of vector-borne diseases of particular note to Cam. In order to do so, we called on the knowledge of Dr. Christie Mayo (DVM, PhD) from Colorado State University, an expert on BVD and virology to give us the inside scoop. References Information on Climate Change and Vector-Borne Diseases Bartlow, A. W., Manore, C., Xu, C., Kaufeld, K. A., Del Valle, S., Ziemann, A., Fairchild, G., & Fair, J. M. (2019). Forecasting zoonotic infectious disease response to climate change: Mosquito Vectors and a changing environment. Veterinary Sciences, 6(2), 40. https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci6020040 Bett, B., Kiunga, P., Gachohi, J., Sindato, C., Mbotha, D., Robinson, T., Lindahl, J., & Grace, D. (2017). Effects of climate change on the occurrence and distribution of livestock diseases. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 137, 119–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2016.11.019 Caminade, C., McIntyre, K. M., & Jones, A. E. (2018). Impact of recent and future climate change on vector-borne diseases. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1436(1), 157–173. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.13950 Rocklöv, J., & Dubrow, R. (2020). Climate change: An enduring challenge for vector-borne disease prevention and Control. Nature Immunology, 21(5), 479–483. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-020-0648-y Brand, S. P., & Keeling, M. J. (2017). The impact of temperature changes on vector-borne disease transmission: Culicoides midges and bluetongue virus. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 14(128), 20160481. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2016.0481 El Moustaid, F., Thornton, Z., Slamani, H., Ryan, S. J., & Johnson, L. R. (2021). Predicting temperature-dependent transmission suitability of bluetongue virus in Livestock. Parasites & Vectors, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-021-04826-y Gethmann, J., Probst, C., & Conraths, F. J. (2020). Economic impact of a bluetongue serotype 8 epidemic in Germany. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00065 Jones, A. E., Turner, J., Caminade, C., Heath, A. E., Wardeh, M., Kluiters, G., Diggle, P. J., Morse, A. P., & Baylis, M. (2019). Bluetongue risk under future climates. Nature Climate Change, 9, 153-157. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0376-6