Characterizing Zoonotic and Vector-Borne Disease Presence in Contexts of Displacement and Weather Events

Abstract

This study focuses on synthesizing existing information about the presence of zoonotic disease outbreaks in displaced and mobile populations across the world, as well as zoonotic disease outbreaks after weather events. The transmission of diseases from humans to animals can be heavily influenced by how temperature or weather change the movement of animals and humans, and migration can be triggered by how climatic changes interact with social and economic factors in people’s lives. The questions in this study center around identifying what zoonoses currently pose the biggest risks to migratory populations from existing literature and disease surveillance data, and how this can be used to predict the nature of transmission in the future, especially considering the impact climate change may have on human migration patterns and transmission vectors. The methods included searching relevant databases concerning migration and weather disasters for data, as well as creating a database of diseases affecting displaced people from a comprehensive literature search. This data is to be used to compare the general prevalence and the types of zoonotic disease in displaced and non-displaced populations. My methodology included conducting a search of outbreak surveillance databases and a comprehensive literature search for case studies of outbreaks. Datasets from official sources about refugee health, displacement, and natural disasters were used as comparisons to the data from the searches. In general diseases with arthropod vectors were the most common among externally and internally displaced populations such as scabies, malaria, and leishmaniasis. The weather events that came up the most in causing diseases were hydrometeorological events and drought. These demonstrate that specific focus should be paid to vector control and structural defense from these particular insects and weather events to improve the health of displaced populations.