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Other ways climate change are affecting human health are more subtle. Another major way this is impacting our health is through pollution. As humans put more and more pollutants into our atmosphere it affects not only the natural world but our society too. CO2, CH4 and N2O all play a role in diminishing human health. A large contributor of this is ground level ozone. Up in the stratosphere, ozone is useful to stop harsh radiation from entering earth's atmosphere. However, ozone at ground level is a major cause of many respiratory diseases. Ground-level ozone is formed when nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide, both man-made pollutants, are exposed to each other in sunlight. Ground-level ozone has been proven to damage lung tissue and irritate the airways. This is especially harmful to young children and those with asthma and other airway-related diseases as ground ozone can sometimes trigger and even create chronic lung illnesses. It is predicted that if emissions of air pollution stay at today’s level until 2050 the amount of Red Ozone Alert Days (when the air is unhealthy for everyone) will increase by 68% in the US.
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Heavy and increasingly common rainfall caused by climate change can also increase the spread of waterborne diseases such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia that are dangerous to human health. Many animal-borne diseases are also enhanced by climate change. For example, Lyme disease is spread through a type of tick that can only habitat warmer areas of the world. However now, as climate change heats the earth they are able to spread further and harm more people. Lyme disease causes a fever, headache and fatigue as well as a characteristic skin rash. Another example of this is malaria. The main way malaria is spread is through mosquitoes, the most dangerous ones of which are found in the tropics. As the earth warms, these dangerous mosquitoes are able to inhabit larger areas of our globe and affect more people.
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