Bunyaviruses and climate change

It is generally accepted that the planet is undergoing climatic changes, and ‘climate change’ has become the scapegoat for many catastrophes, including infectious disease outbreaks, as acknowledged by Randolph and Ergonul, who state ‘Climate change is the current ubiquitous explanation for increased incidence of infections of many sorts’ (Future Virology 2008; 3: 303–306). However, as these authors argue, this is a highly simplistic view and, indeed, there is a complex network of factors that are responsible for disease emergence and re-emergence. In this short review, the role that climate change could play in the emergence of bunyavirus disease is considered, using a few selected examples.