Reading 2: preparing to read


A You will read a complete passage about the relationship between global warming and disease. Before you read, match the technical terms 1–4 with the definitions a–d.


1. pathogen 2. parasite 3. virus


a. creature that lives in or on another creature and feeds on it b. insect or small animal that carries disease between larger animals and humans


4. vector organism c. bacteria or virus that causes disease d.


tiny living thing (smaller than bacteria) that enters the body and causes disease


B In pairs, write five questions that you would like answered in the passage.


Reading 3: working out meaning from context A Look at the highlighted words and phrases, but do not check them in a dictionary. You will need to guess their meanings to answer the questions.


B Read the passage.


1. See if any of the questions you wrote are answered. 2. Check the meanings of the highlighted items more carefully in context. Think about: • the general context – the other words around the highlighted word or phrase. • the part of speech – if the highlighted word or phrase is a noun, verb, adjective, etc. • parts of the highlighted word or phrase that you already know. • if you know another (probably more basic) meaning of the word or phrase.


and the Spread of Disease Climate Change


Climate change will affect the frequency and spread of disease because of its impact on the population size and range of hosts and pathogens, the duration of the transmission season and the timing and intensity of outbreaks. Warmer temperatures and increased moisture will result in the geographical range of vector organisms such as insects, rodents and snails extending, and the period in which they are active lengthening. The potential transmission zone for many vector-borne diseases, among them malaria, yellow fever and dengue, will expand. Extreme weather events like storms and droughts often prompt disease outbreaks, especially in poor areas where prevention measures and treatment are inadequate.


Mosquitoes are particularly sensitive to temperature. The mosquitoes that carry malaria rarely develop or breed at temperatures below 15°C, and the variety that transmits dengue is restricted by winter temperatures below 10°C. Mosquito survival also decreases at their upper temperature threshold, about 40°C. With sufficient moisture, warmer temperatures will cause an increase in mosquito abundance and activity level, and will speed up the incubation of the parasites and viruses within them.


Warmer global temperatures will allow an expansion of the geographic range within which both the mosquito and parasite could survive in sufficient numbers to result in sustained transmission. Model predictions indicate that a 3°C global temperature rise by 2100 could increase the number of annual malaria cases by 50–80 million.


Pathway to IELTS 6.0 105


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