A warming climate changes cycles of droughts and intense rains, which can increase the risk of fungal diseases in humans.
Rising temperatures are making conditions more favorable for disease-causing fungi — and may even be helping them adapt to infect people.
For a long time, fungi have been a neglected group of pathogens. By the early 2000s, researchers were already warning that climate change would make bacterial, viral and parasite-caused infectious diseases like cholera, dengue and malaria more widespread. “But people were not focused at all on the fungi,” says, a microbiologist and immunologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. That’s because, until recently, fungi haven’t troubled humans much.
By triggering more intense and frequent storms and fires, climate change can also help fungal spores spread over longer distances. Doctors have observed unusually large outbreaks of Valley fever just after dust storms or other events that kick up clouds of dust. Similarly, researchers have found a surge in Valley fever infections in California hospitals after large wildfires as far as 200 miles away.
This is worrying, says Casadevall, especially with hotter days and heatwaves becoming more frequent and intense. “Microbes really have two choices: adapt or die,” he says. “Most of them have some capacity to adapt.” As climate change increases the number of hot days, evolution will select more strongly for heat-resistant fungi.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
U.S. Amps Up Clean Energy Push With $50 Billion ‘Hydrogen Hub’ PlanI cover advanced transportation and climate-oriented technology and co-write the Current Climate newsletter.
Read more »
U.S. Amps Up Clean Energy Push With $50 Billion ‘Hydrogen Hub’ PlanI cover advanced transportation and climate-oriented technology and co-write the Current Climate newsletter.
Read more »
U.S. Amps Up Clean Energy Push With $50 Billion ‘Hydrogen Hub’ PlanI cover advanced transportation and climate-oriented technology and co-write the Current Climate newsletter.
Read more »
U.S. Amps Up Clean Energy Push With $50 Billion ‘Hydrogen Hub’ PlanI cover advanced transportation and climate-oriented technology and co-write the Current Climate newsletter.
Read more »
World Bank's Banga eyes longer, cheaper loans as mission expands to climateWorld Bank's Banga eyes longer, cheaper loans as mission expands to climate
Read more »
Volvo Cars, Ford, Renault Group, IKEA, Others To Climate Commissioner: Electrify Corporate Fleets By 2030Volvo Cars, Ford, Renault Group, Ikea and others call upon new climate Commissioner to deliver on his promise to electrify corporate fleets by 2030
Read more »