Impact of Climate Change on the Incidence and Transfer of Food- and Water-Borne Diseases

Presently, climate change is considered as a serious global environmental challenge influencing growth and survival of pathogens of many food- and water-borne diseases as well as their transmission pathways. Climate change is the major factor to increase the chances of discomfort by alternation in weather, high temperatures, variation in rainfall, and deficit of water. Heavy rainfall will raise the risk of more waterborne illnesses especially in such localities where water drainage system is poorly developed leading to water stagnation. Changes in the climatic condition can increase the burden of disease. Fundamentally all the calamity of climate change like higher temperature, heavy rainfall can have adverse effect on disease development. And there are documented evidences that these changes affect food security and food safety. Environmental changes can possibly impact the world’s natural framework. Developing countries like India with constrained assets are required to confront a large group of health impacts because of environmental change, including food- and water-borne disease, for example, cholera, typhoid, shigellosis, and food poisoning. This chapter summarizes how environmental changes impact the proliferation and transfer of food- and water-borne pathogens.