One of the most disturbing trends in recent years has been the growing incidence of disease bordering on pandemics. Examples include swine flu, bird flu and SARS. That seems to be a global trend.

Now doctors are for the first time warning that climate change represents a massive health risk. An article published in Lancet warns that global warming will have an impact around the world. The report says: "Climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century. Effects of climate change on health will affect most populations in the next decades and put the lives and wellbeing of billions of people at increased risk."

According to the report, much of the impact will be felt in developing countries that don't have the same sort of health infrastructure as the developed world. There will be an increase in insect-borne diseases such as dengue fever and malaria.

But developed countries will be affected as well. Places like Australia, for instance, will swelter with temperatures peaking at over 50 degrees centigrade (122 degrees Fahrenheit). "This warming is expected to have serious health implications for vulnerable groups such as elderly people with cardiovascular conditions," the report says.

There is also the potential impact on mental health, according to the report. "Social illnesses related to environmental uncertainty cannot be underestimated because extreme events are by definition destabilising," the report says. "Social uncertainty might cause increased levels of psychological stress because of instabilities that are both perceived and real. Climate change will, therefore, have an effect on psychosocial health."

Some would call this alarmist but a warning from doctors should not be ignored completely. Could the pressures caused to humans brought on by climate change soon mean we will be seeing councils faced with accident claim after accident claim from disgruntled citizens?