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A12 SCIENCE
Tuesday 9 augusT 2022

Study connects climate hazards to 58%

of infectious diseases

lyst at the University of Ha-
waii, said what is important
to note is that the study isn’t
about predicting future
cases.
“There is no speculation
here whatsoever,” Mora
said. “These are things
that have already hap-
pened.”
One example Mora knows
first-hand. About five years
ago, Mora’s home in rural
Colombia was flooded for
A man walks past a house abandoned after it was inundated
by water due to the rising sea level in Sidogemah, Central Java, the first time in his memory
Indonesia, Nov. 8, 2021. water was in his living room,
Associated Press creating an ideal breeding
ground for mosquitoes and
By SETH BORENSTEIN said they need to think of Mora contracted Chikun-
AP Science Writer the diseases as symptoms gunya, a nasty virus spread
Climate hazards such as of a sick Earth. by mosquito bites.
flooding, heat waves and “The findings of this study And even though he sur-
drought have worsened are terrifying and illus- vived, he still feels joint pain
more than half of the hun- trate well the enormous years later.
dreds of known infectious consequences of climate Sometimes climate
diseases in people, includ- change on human patho- change acts in odd ways.
ing malaria, hantavirus, gens,” said Dr. Carlos del Mora includes the 2016
cholera and anthrax, a Rio, an Emory University case in Siberia when a
study says. infectious disease special- decades-old reindeer car-
Researchers looked ist, who was not part of cass, dead from anthrax,
through the medical litera- the study. “Those of us in was unearthed when the
ture of established cases of infectious diseases and mi- permafrost thawed from
illnesses and found that 218 crobiology need to make warming. A child touched
out of the known 375 hu- climate change one of our it, got anthrax and started
man infectious diseases, or priorities, and we need to an outbreak.
58%, seemed to be made all work together to pre- Mora originally wanted to
worse by one of 10 types vent what will be without search medical cases to
of extreme weather con- doubt a catastrophe as a see how COVID-19 inter-
nected to climate change, result of climate change.” sected with climate haz-
according to a study in In addition to looking at ards, if at all. He found cas-
Monday’s journal Nature infectious diseases, the re- es where extreme weather
Climate Change. searchers expanded their both exacerbated and di-
The study mapped out 1,006 search to look at all type of minished chances of CO-
pathways from the climate human illnesses, including VID-19. In some cases, ex-
hazards to sick people. In non-infectious sicknesses treme heat in poor areas
some cases downpours such as asthma, allergies had people congregate
and flooding sicken people and even animal bites to together to cool off and
through disease-carrying see how many maladies get exposed to the dis-
mosquitos, rats and deer. they could connect to ease, but in other situations,
There are warming oceans climate hazards in some heavy downpours reduced
and heat waves that taint way, including infectious COVID spread because
seafood and other things diseases. They found a to- people stayed home and
we eat and droughts that tal of 286 unique sicknesses indoors, away from others.
bring bats carrying viral in- and of those 223 of them Longtime climate and pub-
fections to people. seemed to be worsened lic health expert Kristie Ebi
Doctors, going back to Hip- by climate hazards, nine at the University of Wash-
pocrates, have long con- were diminished by climate ington cautioned that she
nected disease to weath- hazards and 54 had cases had concerns with how the
er, but this study shows how of both aggravated and conclusions were drawn
widespread the influence minimized, the study found. and some of the methods
of climate is on human The new study doesn’t in the study. It is an estab-
health. do the calculations to at- lished fact that the burn-
“If climate is changing, tribute specific disease ing of coal, oil and natural
the risk of these diseases changes, odds or magni- gas has led to more fre-
are changing,” said study tude to climate change, quent and intense extreme
co-author Dr. Jonathan but finds cases where ex- weather, and research has
Patz, director of the Global treme weather was a likely shown that weather pat-
Health Institute at the Uni- factor among many. terns are associated with
versity of Wisconsin-Madi- Study lead author Camilo many health issues, she
son. Doctors, such as Patz, Mora, a climate data ana- said.q