How Is Climate Change Affecting Vector-Borne Diseases?

As temperatures rise and seasons shift, disease-carrying mosquitoes and ticks are expanding into new regions — and their populations are growing in places and during seasons that were once too cold for them to thrive. That means illnesses like Lyme disease and mosquito-borne viruses could affect more people, for longer parts of the year.

Dina Fonseca, Director of the Center for Vector Biology at Rutgers University, explains.