Earth System Processes and Human Health: Linkages in the Amazon
Ulisses
E.C.
Confalonieri, Program on Global Environmental Changes and Health, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, pmags@ensp.fiocruz.br
(Presenting)
Several Earth System processes can interfere with the dynamics of human diseases in the Amazon region. Among these the most important are physical-chemical phenomena such as the oscillations in the climate system; variations in the hydrological cycle; emissions to the atmosphere from forest fires; excess UVB radiation due to the reduction in the ozone layer in the stratosphere and the heavy metal pollution (mercury) in the aquatic environment. Of equal importance are the anthropic processes (land use) that have bio-ecological consequences such as deforestation and its impacts (the degradation of ecosystem services and ecological simplification due to the loss of species). Only a few of these processes have been studied in relation to their health linkages. The best known associations are the effects of climate variability on the dynamics of vector-borne tropical diseases and the consequences of land cover changes to the populations of vectors and reservoirs of focal infections, as well as on human exposure. Data are presented on the effects of land use/land cover changes on the transmission of malaria in the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon and also on the occurrence of arbovirus infections in Brazil. Also discussed are the influence of the variability of climate and hydrological cycle upon malaria in Brazil, Surinam, Colombia and Venezuela and also on yellow fever outbreaks in Brazil. Some aspects of the ecology of the Amazonian ecosystems and their relevance for public health are discussed, especially the resistance of the natural system to the biological invasions (agents and/or hosts for cholera, kala-azar, schistossomiasis and Chagas disease) and, conversely, its vulnerability to the emergence of infectious diseases.