africa: WARMING CLIMATE SPAWNS DISEASE EPIDEMICS

Dozens of lions died in Tanzania in 2001 after flies carrying distemper spread to eastern Africa. This is an example of how the changing, warming climate around the globe is triggering unprecedented numbers of disease outbreaks in both land and ocean based wildlife populations in habitats ranging from coral reefs to rainforests. Ecologists and epidemiologists have expressed concern over this rising trend in a new report in the June 21 issue of the journal "Science."