With ocean warming, temperature-sensitive toxins produced by phytoplankton could cause contamination of seafood more often, resulting in an increased frequency of poisoning. Thus, climate-induced changes in the production of aquatic pathogens and biotoxins may jeopardize seafood safety. Other infectious diseases not included in the SAR have now achieved importance and could reach critical levels in South America. It may spread if climate change provides adequate conditions to start the epidemiological chain. These diseases could expand their geographic and elevational ranges because conditions would be more favorable for viruses and other living agents, reservoirs, and vectors as a result of global warming.
Vectors are several species of the mosquito genus Anopheles.
Other viruses also affect human beings in this region. Infective agents and vectors are sensitive to environmental changes, especially those conditioned by temperatures and humidity. Precipitation is an important factor for vectors with aquatic stages, such as mosquitoes and blackflies, because breeding places are increased and maintained by rainfall. Malaria is prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas of the American continent, from south of Mexico to northern Argentina. Martens et al.