The human body is home to more than 200 pathogens that are exacerbated by climate change Research

New Delhi, Aug 9 : As the world battles with monkeypox and covid-19 an important study has shown that more than 200 human-caused diseases are aggravated by climate change and are likely to only get worse in the years to beThe study, presented in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that more than 58 percent of the population, or 218 out of the 375 cases of identified human pathogenic diseases like pneumonia, dengue, hepatitis malaria, Zika and more -were affected at one point or another, by at the very least one climatic risk, through 1,006 distinct pathways.

Climatic risk factors were also involved in the growing capacity of pathogens to trigger more severe illness "Given the widespread and pervasive effects of the epidemic, it was frightening to learn of the huge health risk that comes as the result of the greenhouse gas emissions that are being produced," said Camilo Mora Professor of geography in the College of Social Sciences (CSS) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa "There are too many diseases and routes of transmission, to believe that we are able to really adapt to climate changes.

This highlights the urgent necessity to cut global greenhouse gas emissions," Mora added.The researchers conducted an exhaustive search for concrete instances of the impact of 10 climatic risks that are sensitive to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on the human pathogens of each disease.

These risks included drought, warming wildfires, heatwaves extreme precipitation, floods storms sea level rise ocean biogeochemical changes and changes in land cover.The team then looked through over 70,000 scientific papers to find concrete examples of each possible combination of climate-related hazards that impact each of the diseases that are known to exist.

The study found that flooding, warming, precipitation and storms, drought land cover changes and ocean climate changes, heatwaves, fires, and sea changes in the sea level were all observed to trigger diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and fungi.They also affect animals protozoans, plants, and chromists.The pathogenic diseases were transmitted through vectors.

Examples of cases were also discovered for airborne, waterborne direct contact, and foodborne transmission routes "Climatic hazards bring pathogens closer to people.Numerous climatic risks increase the extent and time of environmental suitability, thereby facilitating the expansion of time and space of pathogens and vectors The findings revealed.

Changes in precipitation and temperature for instance, were linked with expanding the range of vectors like ticks, mosquitoes, fleas and birds, as well as a variety of mammals involved in outbreaks caused by bacteria, viruses protozoans, animals, and viruses, including dengue, chikungunya plague, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, Zika, trypanosomiasis, malaria, and echinococcosis, to just some.The summer heatwaves are associated with increasing cases of many water-borne diseases like Vibrio (a type of bacteria)-associated infections primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, and gastroenteritis.

Floods, storms and rising sea levels caused displacements of human beings that were which are implicated in cases of cryptosporidiosis and leptospirosis.Lassa fever, giardiasis gastroenteritis, Legionnaires disease and salmonellosis.

pneumonia, shigellosis, typhoid respiratory disease, hepatitis and skin diseases among others, as revealed by the study.The effects of climate change have also weakened the human capacity to deal with pathogens through altering body conditions , like stress resulting from exposure to risky conditions "We were aware that climate change could impact humans with pathogenic illnesses," said study co-author Kira Webster.

Researchers also discovered that, while the vast majority of illnesses were exacerbated by climate hazards, some were less severe (63 out of 286 illnesses).The warming effect, for instance, has reportedly reduced the incidence of viral diseases, possibly due to the insufficient conditions for the virus, or because of an increased immune system in warmer climates.na/svn.