Global Warming and the Rise of Mosquito-borne Diseases

Human-induced global warming is causing numerous problems such as coastal flooding and extreme weather.  Lori Lai will discuss how these climate changes are likely to increase infection rates of mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile virus and Dengue fever by creating more mosquito-friendly habitats.  The spread of West Nile virus throughout continental United States is well documented and Dengue fever is now an emerging threat with infections reported in Florida. Other temperate climate regions such as Europe have also experienced rising mosquito-borne disease rates. Tropical and sub-tropical global regions are also undergoing a warming trend and the mosquito-borne disease burden in these regions continues to be a major source of human productivity loss, occasionally with severe or even fatal outcomes. With rising global temperatures driving immature mosquito development, virus development and increased biting rates, agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FDA are taking steps to address this public health issue.  

Lori has educated health care professionals on infectious disease screening related to West Nile virus, Dengue virus, hepatitis B and C viruses and HIV as a senior scientific affairs manager at a major molecular diagnostics company.  She has earned her doctorate in Health Sciences, Global Health from A.T. Still University and she has published a peer-reviewed scientific article on West Nile virus RNA detection in whole blood.  After starting out as a licensed medical laboratory technologist, she has held various sales and marketing positions in the life science, medical device and diagnostics industries, with a long overseas assignment in Japan and Hong Kong. She currently manages a diagnostic product line at a bioscience company located in South San Francisco, CA.

We will be in the Chapel.  Sandwiches will be available for purchase.  Sponsored by the Humanists of the Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco.  Everyone is welcome.