Extreme climate whiplash events drive divergent responses of mosquito-borne disease.

ABSTRACT: There is mounting concern surrounding climate change effects on human health. Vector-borne diseases-transmitted by ectotherms like mosquitos-are sensitive to abiotic conditions, and there is a significant interest in modeling their response to future climate change. However, changing climate also contributes to increasing variability and frequency of extreme weather, including "climate whiplash" events, when weather conditions abruptly shift between extremes. These events may have more immediate effects on vector-borne diseases, though they have received less attention. Here, we use the series of extreme atmospheric rivers of 2022/2023 in California, following years of extreme drought, as a natural experiment to assess the effect of climate whiplash on vector-borne disease risk. Using high

SUBMITTER: MacDonald AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12314742 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature