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Mora explained how the destruction of natural habitats, due to fires or floods, has forced wildlife to move to areas closer to humans, also aggravating the spread of the coronavirus. In fact, climate change is able to influence more than a thousand ways of transmission of infectious diseases, increasing the risk of new epidemics around the planet. “To reduce these risks the world will have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which are the basis of climate change “ Mora pointed out.

Scientists then pointed out four main ways where climate risks interact with pathogens and humans.

Extreme weather events bring pathogens closer to people

Climate change is displacing the habitats of animals and organisms that can act as vectors of dangerous pathogenic diseases. For instance, warming or changes in precipitation patterns can alter the distribution of mosquitoes, which are vectors of numerous diseases that are dangerous for humans. In recent decades, geographic changes in outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria and dengue, have been linked to these climatic events.

Extreme weather events bring people closer to pathogens

Climate change can also alter human behavior patterns in order to increase the chances of exposure to pathogens. For instance, during heat waves, people often spend more time in the water, which can lead to an increase in outbreaks of waterborne diseases. In particular, vibro infections (bacteria that can transmit cholera) increased significantly in Sweden and Finland following a 2014 heat wave.

Climate change favors pathogens

In some cases, climate change has generated environmental conditions capable of increase the opportunities for pathogens to interact with vectors or increase the ability of pathogens to cause serious disease in humans. For example, standing water left by heavy rainfall and flooding can provide breeding ground for mosquitoes, leading to increased transmission of diseases such as yellow fever, dengue, malaria, West Nile fever and leishmaniasis.

Some studies have shown how rising temperatures can also help viruses become more resistant to heat, resulting in an increase in the severity of diseases, as pathogens are better able to adapt to fever in the human body. While other research has suggested rising global temperatures are leading to one increased heat tolerance of fungal pathogens. The sudden emergence on several continents of human infections resistant to the treatment of Candida auris, a fungus previously non-pathogenic to humans, has been associated with rising global temperatures. Likewise, mushrooms in urban environments have been shown to be more heat tolerant than those in rural areas, which tend to be cooler.

Climate change weakens the body’s ability to deal with pathogens

Climate change can also affect the human body’s ability to deal with pathogens in two basic ways. First, they can forcing people to live in dangerous conditions, such as when the damage caused by a disaster forces people to live in crowded situations, with a reduction in the quality of hygiene conditions and an increase in exposure to pathogens. And secondly, they can reduce the body’s ability to fight pathogens, for example through the malnutrition. Living in climate risk conditions can also induce a increased cortisol production due to stressresulting in a reduction in the immune response of the human body.

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