Environmental Health Part 2

Learning objectives Common for Part 1 and Part 2 In what ways does our environment affect our health? What is pollution? What are some forms that it can take? How do these affect our health? What is biomagnification and bioaccumulation? Why does biomagnification of mercury make eating seafood risky, especially for children and pregnant women? What are the health risks of lead? How does lead enter our bodies? Are there health risks associated with plastics? What indoor pollutants may we be at risk from? Are there known risks of using cell phones (besides walking into a lightpost on the sidewalk)? What is ‘global climate change’? What causes it? What are some of the risks of climate change to our health?

Vector-borne diseases (General) Many vector-borne diseases are tropical but are spreading pole-ward. Warmer temperatures Longer growing season More moisture in some regions Lyme disease

Vector-Borne diseases: West Nile Virus Higher temperatures: Accelerate mosquito development Accelerate virus reproduction rates Increase egg-laying Increase biting frequency Increase mosquito survival

Vector-borne diseases: Zika Predicted distribution of Aedes aegypti Zika is usually mild, but can cause microcephaly in unborn babies and Guillain Barre syndrome in adults (immune system attacks nervous system) Climate change may expand range of vector

Water-borne illnesses Runoff from extreme precipitation Runoff from pig, chicken, and cattle farms Toxic algae Bacteria Failure of water infrastructure Exposure to chemicals, bacteria, toxins Millions of gallons of raw sewage spilled into Meramec river, Missouri in 2015

Mental health Exposure to disasters increases people with mental health problems. Some populations are particularly vulnerable: Children, elderly, women, economically disadvantaged, those having existing mental health problems, homeless, first responders