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Can you believe that little bugs, so small that we can't see them with the naked eye, are able to affect our day to day living, and even kill us? Well, a forum held in Melbourne, Australia is shedding light on how climate change could help these little creatures, and what that could spell for the human race. Let's take a look.
The Melbourne Conversations Forum is underway. The topic of discussion is climate change. But here they're looking at the bigger picture, from a microscopic perspective.
[Natasha Mitchell, Forum Moderator]:
"What does climate change mean for the bugs, the viruses, the parasites that from time to time like to call our body home and make us very sick indeed?" Distinguished scientists from the 12th International Convention of Parasitology in Melbourne are discussing just that.
[Sir Gustav Nossal, Immunologist]:
"Well I'm an immunologist and really everybody knows about viruses, particularly after the bird flu scare and the SARS. Everybody knows about bacteria, particularly getting cured by antibiotics. No one knows about parasites -- the third kid on the block and they are a very grave threat to humanity."
Considered Australia's foremost scientist for over three decades, immunologist Sir Gustav Nossal is well-known internationally, and knows a thing or two about these minute monsters.
[Sir Gustav Nossal, Immunologist]:
"There is no question that the human race and the parasites have had an uneasy relationship for many, many millennia."
Sir Nossal says that warmer temperatures will create more fertile breeding grounds for parasites.
[Sir Gustav Nossal, Immunologist]:
"They love warmer temperatures, they love warmer humidity. And of course all of the patterns of climate change suggest a warming globe and higher rainfall events and higher tidal events...