Last update: 7 August 2008
The California Applications Program and California Climate Change Center are studying the relationships between climate and human health. In collaboration with several groups of outstanding doctors and scientists, CAP/CCCC are exploring how variations in our medium-range weather patterns to long-range climate patterns may play a role in the onset, frequency and longevity of human health problems. Vector borne diseases and Kawasaki Disease are two areas CAP/CCCC are currently researching.
The vector-borne group of diseases is made up of organisms that spend part of their life inside a mosquito, flea, tick or other arthropod, and the other part inside a vertebrate. The arthropod (or "vector") picks up the disease agent when it bites a sick or infected host, and then carries it to one or more new hosts during its next blood meals.
CAP/CCCC is reasearching links between climate and vector borne diseases with a group led by Bill Reisen, Center for Vectorborne Diseases, University of California, Davis. More information on vectorborne diseases and links to surveillance of these diseases (including West Nile Virus) can be found at the Center for Vectorborne Diseases at UC Davis.
August 2008
July 2004
West Nile Virus in California West Nile virus (WNV) was first detected in California during July 2003 by isolation from a pool of Culex tarsalis collected near El Centro, Imperial County. WNV then amplified and dispersed in Imperial and Coachella Valleys, where it was tracked by isolation from pools of Cx. tarsalis, seroconversions in sentinel chickens, and seroprevalence in free-ranging birds. WNV then dispersed to the city of Riverside, Riverside County, and to the Whittier Dam area of Los Angeles County, where it was detected in dead birds and pools of Cx. pipiens quinquefasciatus. By October, WNV was detected in dead birds collected from riparian corridors in Los Angeles, west to Long Beach, and through inland valleys south from Riverside and to San Diego County. WNV was reported concurrently from Arizona in mid-August but not from Baja, Mexico, until mid-November. Possible mechanisms for virus introduction, amplification, and dispersal are discussed in an August 2004 CDC article:William Reisen, Hugh Lothrop, Robert Chiles, Minoo Madon, Cynthia Cossen, Leslie Woods, Stan Husted, Vicki Kramer and John Edman: West Nile Virus in California.
(Please click here for full article)
April 2002
CAP contribution to January 2002 MVCAC conference "Climate variability and encephalitis epidemiology":Climate linkages to female Culex Cx. tarsalis abundance in California
Kawasaki Disease
Kawasaki disease has become the most common cause of acquired heart disease in children CAP/CCCC are researching a possible link between climate and Kawasaki Disease with a group led by Jane C. Burns, MD, Professor of Pediatrics with the University of California, San Diego. More information about the Kawasaki Disease Research Program can be found at http://www.pediatrics.ucsd.edu/C16/Kawasaki%20Disease/default.aspx
What is Kawasaki Disease?
Kawasaki disease is an inflammation of the child's blood vessels. The most important blood vessels involved are those of the heart, including the coronary arteries. If Kawasaki disease is not recognized and appropriately treated within 10 days, the risk for permanent heart damage increases. Children can die from heart problems during this illness. They can also die from heart attacks later in childhood or as young adults. Early treatment is effective in preventing this, but first Kawasaki disease must be recognized.
Kawasaki disease is an uncommon but important cause of fever in children. It was first noticed in Japanese children following World War II. While it is more common among the Japanese, we now know that it occurs in all racial groups, primarily in children younger than 5 years of age. Sometimes Kawasaki disease appears in clusters of children. An infectious agent is suspected although the cause is unknown.