ABSTRACT
Great care must be taken in associating ill-health with climate. Most of the remaining listed diseases are insect-borne infections and the climate plays a more obvious role. Loa loa is a filarial infection, transmitted by the female Chrysops silacea and dimidiata which is essentially a forest dwelling insect of eastern West Africa, preferring the lowland forest climate. Most West African countries could do with increasing the protein of the national diets by 8 to 10 per cent. Despite all the climate of West Africa has unjustifiably earned for itself the reputation for being ‘unhealthy’. Initially warm weather induces the output of adrenaline, but in prolonged hot climate conditions the production is exhausted. Apparent lassitude may be purely psychological, but again weather conditions may be significant. Illnesses in desert areas are commonly related to heat stress: heat exhaustion, dehydration, cramp and related psychological disorders.
