Scientists, in a recent study, have found that of pathogens known to have infected humans, more than half may cause more widespread disease as a result of rising temperatures, precipitation changes or other climate-related factors.
The study, published in Nature Climate Change, proved beyond a doubt that consequences of climate change; warming, drought and sea-level rise, worsen most infectious diseases by enabling transmission and increasing the severity of outbreaks. According to co-author of the study, Professor Camilo Mora at the University of Hawai’i, “systems have been evolving for millions of years and now humans have come along and changed things. We are punching nature, but nature is punching us back.”
Mora and his colleagues, analysed more than 3,200 published scientific works, identifying outbreaks reported as having intensified by at least one climate hazard, such as drought. Tallying the pathogens that cropped up in the evaluation, the study authors found that 217 were also listed in databases of known infectious diseases compiled by the Global Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology Network and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.)
The researchers mapped pathogenic microbes to climate change outcomes with the potential to worsen outbreaks. They found that warming temperatures, flooding and flooding were linked to worsening outbreaks of most pathogens (58%), while rising sea levels was associated with exacerbating outbreaks of the fewest types of pathogens “There is no speculation here whatsoever. These are things that have already happened,” Prof Mora told Associated Press (AP), NBC and New Scientist.
While some diseases can be diminished by climate change; warmer temperatures are less conducive to the spread of influenza—the study authors argue that the majority of pathogens will thrive under climate change conditions through a variety of mechanisms. Warming temperatures, for example, could expand the geographic range of some microbes while also increasing the population sizes of disease-spreading mosquitos. In addition, the authors wrote that the consequences of climate change could hinder people’s ability to fight infection as severe weather events might damage infrastructure and impede access to food, leading to malnutrition that could dampen immune system function.
Other experts, including Aaron Bernstein of the Centre for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at Harvard School of Public Health, told AP that the study is a warning about the ongoing connection between climate and health, particularly as habitat loss increases the number of spill overs of pathogens into humans from other species. “This study underscores how climate change may load the dice to favour unwelcome infectious surprises.
