Climate change could be making diarrhoea more common

A new study found that climate change could potentially make diarrhoeal illnesses more common.

The investigated bacteria not only causes discomfort but can also be fatal to children, the elderly and the immunosuppressed. (Sora Shimazaki via Pexels)

You are probably acutely aware of how climate change is wreaking havoc on our planet but did you know that it also poses a great threat to your plants? A new study from the University of Surrey revealed that climate change is linked to the increased spread of a particular diarrhoeal illness.

The study published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology investigated how weather affected the transmission of campylobacteriosis, which is a bacterial infection that can cause diarrhoea and stomach pains. Campylobacter infections are the most common causes of human gastroentitis in the world, according to the World Health Organisation. Infections are usually mild but they can prove to be fatal to young children, the elderly and immunosuppressed individuals.

“Since Hippocrates, there has been a large consensus that weather and climate influence the spread of diseases. Getting to the bottom of why this is and what specific environmental factors drive the spread of disease is a complicated matter and not fully understood. We now have a detailed description of how the weather affects the disease, and the next step is to understand the why. Importantly, through our transparent and conceptually simple approach, we can now tell the risk of getting the disease when we know the recent local weather,” said Giovanni Lo Iacono, co-author of the study, in a press statement.

This is important because apart fromn causing discomfort to people, campylobacteriosis has massive societal impacts. It can have an effect on the economy when people are forced to call in sick to work and can also put extra pressure on health services across the world, especially in the parts where the systems are already stretched thin.

The researchers analysed data from around one million cases where people were infected by the bacteria over a 20-year period. The team then used a special mathematical model to compare this data with corresponding weather data. They found that campylobacteriosis infections remained consistent at temperatures of around eight degrees Celsius.

But there was a sharp increase in infection observed for every five-degree increase in temperature between eight and 15 degrees Celsius. They also observed high incidents of infection when humidity was between 75 to 80 per cent.