Shocking Revelation: El Niño and Rising Temperatures Lead to Alarming Surge in Disease Outbreaks!

Get free updates on climate change

We will send you a myFT Daily collection email with the list of the latest news Climate change news every morning.

Climate change and the warming effect of the El Niño ocean are raising new public health concerns around the world, as warmer, wetter weather helps the spread of infectious diseases.

This summer in the Northern Hemisphere has been by far the warmest on record, and the arrival of El Niño – in which the surface of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean warms and causes global changes in temperature and precipitation – has focused the Experts focus on the health impacts of an unstable climate.

According to a recent study published in the journal by researchers at the University of Hawaii, approximately 58% of all infectious diseases encountered by humans may be exacerbated by climate change. Natural climate changes. They said there is a need to reduce the emissions that cause climate change rather than adapt to the health consequences because there are more than 1,000 pathways in which climate risks cause disease.

“As our climate continues to change, severe weather events are becoming more common and more intense, creating conditions conducive to the spread of disease,” explains Richard Gleave, director of science strategy and development at the Health Security Agency of the United Kingdom (UKHSA). ).

Past El Niño events have been linked to increased incidences of malaria in Venezuela and Brazil, dengue fever in the Pacific Islands, and cholera in southern India and Bangladesh.

Vectors – organisms that host and transmit infections – include mosquitoes and ticks, which can spread diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and Lyme disease. “When we look at vector-borne diseases, we can see from previous El Niños, particularly the 2015-2016 El Niño, that we get increased epidemics of a wide range of vector-borne diseases and other infectious diseases,” he says Madeleine Thomson, head of climate impacts and adaptation at Wellcome, the medical charity.

Higher temperatures mean there are more areas for vectors to survive and breed; it also means they bite more often and for longer, which makes transmission of a disease more likely, as well as ensuring mosquitoes mature more quickly.

Severe flooding has been linked to dengue fever outbreaks in countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, there have been 135,000 dengue cases and more than 600 related deaths so far this year, the Directorate General of Health Services reports, surpassing the 2022 record. This has coincided with unusual weather conditions that have increased the mosquito population, the WHO said. last month. He warned that the country’s climate is “becoming more conducive” to disease transmission.

Mosquito-borne diseases are also increasing across Europe. According to Airfinity, the tiger mosquito, the main vector of dengue fever in Europe, has spread across France in recent years. There were 65 locally acquired dengue cases in France last year, compared to 48 in the previous 12 years combined.

“We must be prepared for the health consequences of climate change,” says Maria Neira, director of WHO’s public health and environment department. “Climate change is affecting our health: we must react accordingly in a more ambitious way.”

Diseases can also spread through water, especially when floods cause contamination of drinking water. Waterborne diseases account for 1.8 million deaths a year worldwide, the US National Institutes of Health says.

Cholera, which causes severe diarrhea, spreads through contaminated food and water, even when storms, floods and droughts disrupt supplies of clean water and sanitation. According to the WHO, 50% more countries than the normal annual average reported cholera epidemics in 2022, the fifth warmest year on record. Other diseases that spread through water include norovirus, E.coli and salmonella.

A less obvious factor in the spread of disease is the increasing use of air conditioning. This requires closing doors and windows, eliminating natural ventilation and making it easier for infections to spread through the air. Hotter, drier summers can also increase soil evaporation and encourage the release of dust into the atmosphere, an important pathway for the transport of pathogens such as fungi and bacteria.

WHO is promoting the concept of “One Health” – the idea that human, animal and environmental health are connected. Public policy that incorporates this is recommended to understand the effect climate change has on animal-acquired diseases, antibiotic resistance and food safety. UK Parliament Research Paper said in July.

“Looking at the interaction between human health, animal health, environmental health and the environment is one of the best things we can do,” Neira says. “If we can mitigate climate change, the health benefits will be enormous.”