Climate change is an emerging and potentially major public health concern, but the Allegheny County Health Department and most other local health departments across the nation lack the expertise, staffing or resources needed to tackle problems caused by heat waves, drought and the spread of new diseases and pathogens.

A national report released yesterday found that nearly 80 percent of public health department directors across the nation believe that climate change has already occurred or will occur in their communities, and 60 percent said their local populations will experience "serious public health problems" as a result.

While most of the 133 health department directors surveyed feel planning and programs addressing the public health ramifications of climate change should be an important priority, less than 20 percent said climate change is among their department's top 10 priorities, according to the report by the National Association of County & City Health Officials, the Environmental Defense Fund and George Mason University.

"These findings show that while public health officials recognize the need to be prepared for adverse health impacts from climate change, there are serious gaps in the U.S. public health system's ability to meet that need," said Dr. John Balbus, the Environmental Defense Fund's chief health scientist and lead author of the report.

The survey is the first to assess the perceptions, planning and programs of local health directors with regard to climate change and public health. More than eight in 10 directors said they lacked the expertise to craft plans to address it.

"We're struggling to do what we're mandated to do, and that means we have no excess capacity to address some of these very real climate issues," said Dr. Bruce Dixon, director of the Allegheny County Health Department, who participated in the survey. "But I think it's something we need to give some attention to, something we need to be thinking about."

A warming climate in southwestern Pennsylvania could lengthen the smog season, cause more frequent and longer heat waves, increase power plant operation and emissions, and produce more extreme weather events including floods and drought, said Guillermo Cole, a Health Department spokesman.

"The West Nile virus program may have to start several weeks sooner and run longer into the fall because the mosquito breeding season may lengthen," Mr. Cole said. "And we may also have to deal with new pathogens that aren't now a concern in our region but may spread here in warmer weather, and that we would have to track and provide training for health care providers."

Stacy Kriedeman, a Pennsylvania Department of Health spokeswoman, said the department recognizes climate change as "an emerging public health issue" but has committed no funding and initiated no programs to help the 10 municipal and county health departments work on it.

"Funding is always an issue when it comes to putting programs in place," Ms. Kriedeman said. "At this point this is a new issue and something that has to be considered as we move forward. We're working to raise awareness."

Dr. Dixon said municipal and county health departments will need state and federal funding support to begin planning responses to climate change-induced health effects.

"Climate change is happening, but its effects are happening slowly enough that we don't have to throw the kitchen sink at it right away," he said. "But it's also something we need to be continually addressing because the potential for health problems is very real."