Various environmental hazards due to changing of the climate worsened more than half (58%) of human infectious diseases, a new US-Swedish scientific study estimates. The study highlights additional risks that could threaten human health in the future if climate change continues and escalates into a normal climate crisis.

According to APE, scientists already knew that climate change makes people more vulnerable to various diseases, mainly by facilitating the transmission of various pathogens (mainly bacteria and viruses) either through water or through food. The new study summarizes potential health and climate-related threats to humanity in greater detail than ever before.

Researchers led by Dr. Camilo Mora of the American University of Hawaii, who published a related publication in the journal Nature Climate Change, found 3,213 published empirical cases linking 286 human infectious diseases to ten climate risks, such as rising temperatures, floods, and droughts. Of these, 277 were found to be exacerbated by at least one climate hazard.

Overall, it has been estimated that 58% of existing infectious diseases known to affect humans, or nearly six out of ten, have already shown a trend of worsening due to climate hazards. This is partly due to what climate change brings, for example, through floods and storms – bringing humans closer to disease-causing microbes, thereby constantly expanding the area of ​​the Earth where such micro-organisms can transmit diseases such as dengue, malaria, Lhasa, Legionnaires’ disease. , Lyme disease, etc.