Effects of climate change on tularemia disease activity in Sweden

Abstract

Tularaemia is a vector-borne infectious disease. A large majority of cases transmitted to humans by bloodfeeding arthropods occur during the summer season and is linked to increased temperatures. Therefore, the effect of climate change is likely to have an effect on tularaemia transmission patterns in highly endemic areas of Sweden. In this report, we use simulated climate change scenario data and empirical data of temperatures critical to tularaemia transmission to forecast tularaemia outbreak activity. The five high-endemic counties: Dalarna, Gävleborg, Norrbotten, Värmland and Örebro represent only 14.6% of the total population of Sweden, but have recorded 40.1-81.1% of the number of annual human tularaemia in Sweden from 1997 until 2008. We project here earlier starts and a later termination of future tularaemia outbreaks for the time period 2010-2100. For five localised outbreak areas; Gagnef (Dalarna), Ljusdal (Gävleborg), Harads (Norrbotten), Karlstad (Värmland) and Örebro municipality (Örebro), the climate scenario suggests an approximately 2°C increase in monthly average summer temperatures leading to increases in outbreak durations ranging from 3.5 weeks (Harads) to 6.6 weeks (Karlstad) between 2010 and 2100. In contrast, an analysis of precipitation scenarios indicates fairly stable projected levels of precipitation during the summer months. Thus, there should not be an increased abundance of late summer mosquitoes that are believed to be main vectors for transmission to humans in these areas. In conclusion, the results indicate that the future climate changes will lead to an increased burden of tularaemia in high-endemic areas of Sweden during the coming decades.

Keywords: tularaemia; climate; epidemiology; models; statistical; temperature; rain; forecast; Sweden; Francisella tularensis

(Published: 11 November 2009)

Citation: Global Health Action 2009. DOI: 10.3402/gha.v2i0.2063