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Increase in diarrhea epidemics due to climate change: Germany also affected

2023-01-24T07:16:09.661Z


Climate change favors the spread of gastrointestinal germs worldwide. The reasons are high temperatures and extreme weather. Germany is also affected.


Climate change favors the spread of gastrointestinal germs worldwide.

The reasons are high temperatures and extreme weather.

Germany is also affected.

Munich – Infections with gastrointestinal pathogens can become dangerous if the fluid intake can no longer keep up with the fluid loss of the body.

Such clinical pictures are known from cholera.

She had disappeared from the scene for years.

Last year, the number of outbreaks was at a new high.

The reason for this is the climate crisis, which favors the spread of highly contagious germs,

reports

zeit.de.

Climate change: Study expects more deaths from gastrointestinal germs

In addition to heat waves and hurricanes, gastrointestinal germs are a health hazard of climate change.

A model study published in

The Lancet Planetary Health

estimates that almost 100,000 additional deaths will be caused by diarrheal diseases each year.

Diarrheal pathogens such as bacteria multiply better at higher temperatures, explains climate researcher Veronika Huber from the Helmholz Center in Munich.

Among other things, she conducts research on the study.

The pathogens mentioned include not only cholera, but also germs such as Shigella and Cryptosporidia.

The less well-known bacterium Campylobacter, which affects tens of thousands of Germans every year, also belongs to the growing group of germs.

Gastrointestinal germs: poor countries particularly affected

Diarrheal diseases are particularly dangerous in poor and structurally weak regions of the world.

This is due to missing or poorly developed health and sanitation systems.

In this way, harmful germs get into the sewage and consequently into rivers, from which water is drawn every day in poor countries.

In Syria, for example, almost 75,000 suspected cases of cholera and a total of one hundred deaths have been reported since August 2022.

However, improving hygiene conditions could reduce the impact of climate change.

This refers to the temperatures caused by climate change.

"If you include droughts, floods and refugee movements or even conflicts caused by climate change, the number of deaths could also be much higher," says Huber.

Hygiene alone cannot stop the spread of cholera.

Epidemiologist Philippe Barboza from the WHO explains to

zeit.de

that cholera is easy to treat and that nobody should die from it.

A sip vaccine can help in many cases.

However, as of this year, the vaccine variant that is suitable for crisis areas will only be manufactured by one company - by the company EuBiologics in South Korea.

The production of the global demand will probably not be able to cope with this.

+

The number of cholera infections has risen sharply worldwide in recent months.

© IMAGO/CAVALLINI JAMES / BSIP

Diarrhea pathogen: growth of bacteria also in Germany

Cholera is hardly a threat in richer countries like Germany.

Vibrio bacteria, related to the cholera pathogen, have grown in the Baltic Sea in recent years.

Although they are less dangerous than cholera pathogens, they can also make you seriously ill.

This is when they enter the body through skin tears or cuts.

In addition to diarrhea, the consequences can also be fever, chills and blood poisoning.

In Germany, Salmonella and Campylobacter are among the most common diarrhea pathogens.

They also benefit from rising temperatures.

"Both are mainly transmitted through food, but can also get onto vegetables through contaminated water or, in the case of Campylobacter, into bathing lakes," says epidemiologist Maylin Meincke from the Baden-Württemberg State Health Office of the German Climate Change and Health Alliance.

Campylobacter bacteria can cause diarrhea, fever and muscle pain in people with a weakened immune system.

Infections usually progress without complications.

Diarrhea epidemic: The solution lies in climate protection

Extreme weather events are also occurring more frequently in Germany due to climate change - flooding is becoming a problem.

Overflowing sewage treatment plants and sewers can lead to the spread of bacteria and parasites, according

to

zeit.de.

Climate researcher Huber sees the long-term solution in lower global CO₂ emissions in favor of the climate.

In the meantime, access to medical care and the expansion of sewage systems must be covered globally.

Emergency regions depend on clean drinking water and nutrients to prevent the increase in the death rate from gastrointestinal infections.

(hk)

List of rubrics: © IMAGO/CAVALLINI JAMES / BSIP

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-01-24

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