Climate change and parasitic disease: farmer mitigation?

Abstract

Global climate change predictions suggest that far-ranging effects might occur in the population dynamics and distributions of livestock parasites, provoking fears of widespread increases in disease incidence and production loss. However, several biological mechanisms (including increased parasite mortality and more rapid acquisition of immunity), in tandem with changes in husbandry practices (including reproduction, housing, nutrition, breed selection, grazing patterns and other management interventions), might act to mitigate increased parasite development rates, preventing dramatic rises in overall levels of disease. Such changes might, therefore, counteract predicted climate-driven increases in parasite challenge. Optimum mitigation strategies will be highly system specific and depend on detailed understanding of interactions between climate, parasite abundance, host availability and the cues for and economics of farmer intervention.