Second National Communications § Occurrence of extreme weather events (quantity and quality) 3.1 Climate sensitivity Broadening our perspective on disease causation and investigation, we should look at the possibility of these ailments being caused by, if not being exacerbated by changes in the climate which may alter vector life cycles and thereby make their existence more favourable and extended, maybe become more virulent, and possibly travel farther distances; and therefore transmission to humans more likely as to cause a more intense disease episode. These we can call climate sensitivity of diseases. There are four main types of disease transmission where we have the human – anthroponoses and animal – zoonoses type. These both have a direct and indirect transmission type.27 It is in the indirect transmission type where we see the expression and potential mediation of climate change impacts on the vectors. 3.2 Regional Effects As the Philippines are located in the tropical region diseases express themselves in a particular pattern owing to the more or less stable climate. Further expression of diseases would take on the characteristics of the factors that will mediate the disease entity on a more local level. As temperature and precipitation and its corresponding weather parameters visit the different provinces, the extreme weather variability and frequency of typhoons or conversely droughts brought about by the climate change will interact with the expression of the disease pathway. Host resistance and herd immunity as internal adaptation mechanisms as well as completion of vaccination, preparedness of health facilities and the like as external adaptation mechanisms will come into play. The three project sites are located in three major island groups of the country: Albay in Luzon, Bohol in the Visayas and Surigao in northern Mindanao. Their geographical composition as mentioned earlier is Wilson, M.L., Ecology and infectious disease, in Ecosystem Change and Public Health: A Global Perspective, J.L. Aron and J.A. Patz, Editors. 2001, Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore. p. 283-324. 27 17