Understanding how complex ecological and climate systems influence a wide range of potential human health threats is a growing concern worldwide. Our initiative on Global Environmental Health – led by Professor Jonathan Patz – grapples with these issues head on, and is catalyzing important interdisciplinary and integrated approaches across the UW–Madison campus, creating new paradigm for global environmental health research.

Global environmental health problems cannot be solved by any single discipline or perspective. For an integrated approach to environmental health, SAGE is increasing the number of partnerships between the Nelson Institute and the Department of Population Health Sciences and the Center for Global Health in the School of Medicine & Public Health; the School of Veterinary Medicine and USGS National Wildlife Health Center; and the Institute for International Studies.

SAGE is dedicated to the scientific discovery and application of new knowledge pertaining to the human health risks posed by global environmental degradation and climatic change. We are committed to further the understanding of complex and dynamic environmental systems as they affect human and wildlife health, and co-hosted the first international conference on EcoHealth, “EcoHealth ONE: Forging Collaboration between Ecology and Health” here on campus, October 7-10, 2006.

Report of the Health Expert Panel of the US National Assessment of Climate Variability and Change

Below are several examples of our research on the links between environmental change and human health:

Heat waves are known to be fatal, as occurred in the summer of 2003, when up to an estimated 45,000 people perished in Europe in less than two weeks time.

Chicago, 1995 Temperatures ranged from 93° to 104°F for five straight days and at least 700 premature deaths were recorded, most of which were attributed to heat. This event and other temperature effects on health were published in (and featured on the cover of) the November 17, 2005 issue of Nature.

Though an EPA STAR grant beginning January, 2006, SAGE will also begin collaborating with climatologists and public health officials from the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services to assess of current and future heat-related illness for the state of Wisconsin and the neighboring city of Chicago.

Air pollution presents a widespread public health challenge, especially in large cities in developing countries. But even in the U.S. and other developed nations, ground-level ozone (smog) still present health risks; if you live in Los Angeles or the mid-Atlantic region in the eastern U.S, “ozone red alert” days are an all-too-frequent reality. Along with partner institutions, we are studying the effects that future climate change may have on hazardous ozone pollution.

Vector-borne diseases and global warming present risks because cold-blooded insects (like mosquitoes and ticks) that carry diseases can be quite sensitive to changing temperature and humidity. SAGE is studying these effects on West Nile virus and Lyme disease. We further incorporate the potential synergistic effect of habitat fragmentation on the incidence of Lyme disease in Wisconsin and the eastern US.

Infectious disease resurgence from land use change is occurring throughout the world. Widespread deforestation threatens the earth’s ecosystems, and the rich biodiversity they contain. But what are the public health implications? We are currently studying the effect of deforestation on the ecology of malaria transmission in the upper Amazon region. We are combining the tools of classical field insect surveys with satellite remote sensing images of the changing landscape to determine the potential increase malaria risk from deforestation.

Waterborne disease risk remains a public health challenge, even in the US. The single 1993 Milwaukee outbreak of Cryptosporidiosis alone resulted in over 400,000 cases of this diarrheal disease. Associations have been established between extreme rainfall and waterborne disease outbreaks. Exposure can occur from recreational waters or runoff from livestock agriculture and human septic fields. SAGE’s new EPA grant addressing climate change in the upper Midwest, will include analysis of rainfall/runoff and the occurrence of beach closings due to contaminated recreational waters.

Education and Outreach

There is little value in the acquisition of new knowledge if it is not communicated effectively. A priority of the program is to share our research and analyses with other scientists, policy makers, and the public. To this end we publish peer-reviewed scientific research papers, participate in national and international panels and reports, organize conferences for the scientific and lay communities, and teach and develop textbooks and teaching materials on global change and human health issues.