Quantifying the Interrelationship between Livestock Infections and Climate Change: Response to Ezenwa et al

Ezenwa and colleagues bring welcome attention to the potential contribution of poor animal health to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by livestock, and to the influence of climate change on disease burden. They propose that these processes together fuel a positive feedback loop between climate change, disease, and atmospheric GHG concentrations. The goal of Ezenwa and colleagues was to highlight this issue of unappreciated feedback mechanisms and the impact of animal health on GHG emissions. However, the strong simplification of the described mechanism may lead to false conclusions and highlights the need for more empirical data and more rigorous modeling.