More than 58 percent of human diseases have worsened due to climate change, according to a new study.
The groundbreaking research, published in Nature Climate Change on Monday, was conducted by researchers at the University of Hawaii at Mamoa, who conducted a systematic search for real-life examples of the impact of ten climate hazards exacerbated by greenhouse gas emissions on human disease.
These include warming, drought, heat waves, wildfires, extreme rainfall, floods, storms, sea level rise, biogeochemical changes and land cover change –
Analyzing more than 70,000 scientific papers for examples of direct links between known diseases and climate change, the scientists found that all extreme weather events made more frequent and more severe by global warming affect diseases caused by viruses, bacteria , animals, fungi and plants.
Of the 375 diseases analyzed, 218 were found to be affected by climate change.
The climate brings the dangers closer
Specifically, the researchers found that climate change-related hazards are bringing pathogens closer to humans, with warmer temperatures and wetter environments associated with increased rainfall favoring the spread of mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, birds and mammals that are responsible for the spread of several viruses and bacteria such as dengue, plague, Lyme disease and malaria.
In particular, mosquito populations have found breeding ground after floods and storms, in turn causing a surge in the pathogens they transmit, including West Nile and yellow fever.
But climate change is also bringing humans closer to pathogens.
As extreme weather events cause the displacement and forced migration of thousands of people in some of the most vulnerable parts of the world, contact between humans and pathogens is increasing.
Researchers have linked heat waves to increased prevalence of water-borne diseases such as vibrio (infections caused by bacteria) and gastroenteritis, while storms, floods and sea-level rise have been linked to the spread of cholera, pneumonia, typhoid, hepatitis and respiratory diseases and skin diseases diseases, among others.
Our weaker immune system
Pathogens themselves are becoming stronger to adapt to the changing weather, while our bodies’ immune response has weakened due to the added stress of hazardous conditions, unsafe living situations, and uncertain access to health care that people experience after an extreme weather event. .
“Given the extensive and pervasive effects of the COVID 19 pandemic, it was truly frightening to find the enormous health vulnerability resulting from greenhouse gas emissions,” Camilo Mora, professor of geography in the College of Social Sciences (CSS) and lead author of the study , said in a statement.
“There are too many diseases and transmission routes to think we can really adapt to climate change. This underscores the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.”
But there is also some positive news that came to light in the report.
People don’t have time to adapt
Although the majority of diseases have worsened due to climate change-related extreme events, some have actually improved. Those viruses and pathogens that cannot survive at higher temperatures actually decline.
But that hardly balances how much worse diseases have become because of the way greenhouse gas emissions are affecting our planet’s climate. Humans are unlikely to be able to adapt in time to face these stronger, more widespread diseases, the report’s authors suggest.
“Because climate change affects more than 1,000 transmission pathways like these and climate hazards are becoming increasingly global, we concluded that expecting societies to successfully adapt to all of them is not a realistic option,” the study authors wrote in a paper , published in The Conversation.
“The world will need to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases that drive climate change to reduce these risks.”
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