Antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” are one of the biggest public health threats of our time, and researchers fear climate change will make them even more dangerous.
Rising temperatures, increased flooding, increased pollution, and increased population density are all predicted to stimulate bacterial resilience to existing drugs.
These issues have increased the urgency of international efforts to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by developing new drugs and blocking pathways through which pathogens' immunity spread. They also mean that climate change will become more severe if governments rally to the sidelines of climate change. united nations general assemblyto discuss how to fight AMR in September.
“There are currently no good estimates of how much climate-related disasters will exacerbate the burden of resistance, but it is clear that the risks are very high,” said Anthony, senior policy analyst at the Center for World Development. McDonnell says. A think tank based in Washington. “More research is necessarily needed in this area to be able to determine the tools needed to address this concern.”
AMR It refers to the changes that occur as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve over time and develop resistance to existing drugs used to combat them. Evolution itself is a natural response, but it is accelerated by exposure of pathogens to drugs that are used too often or carelessly.
According to a 2022 study, AMR contributed to approximately 5 million deaths worldwide in 2019, and was directly responsible for more than a quarter of them. The World Bank estimates that this could increase health care costs by $1 trillion a year by 2050 and reduce gross domestic product by $1 trillion to $3.4 trillion a year by 2030.
According to a report published last year by the United Nations Environment Program titled Superbug Preparedness, the climate crisis has many impacts on ecosystems, human health, animal health, and food production, including AMR. “I will give you.”
AMR is most harmful in low- and middle-income countries, which are more susceptible to climate change impacts such as flooding.antibacterial resistance enteric fever The waterborne disease, also known as typhoid fever, has increased over the past 30 years in 75 countries where it is endemic, the government has announced. the study Published in Lancet Global Health in February.
The results show how rising resistance is “a pressing public health problem, jeopardizing the ability to effectively treat enteric fever,” said spatial modeler and lead author Annie Brown. said in a research presentation.
Pakistan, which suffered devastating floods in 2022, has a particularly serious problem with enteric fever AMR. Researchers found that resistance of certain bacteria that cause typhoid fever to the cephalosporin antibiotics used to treat it had risen to 61 percent in the country by 2019.
“The impact of AMR is felt disproportionately in regions with limited resources, exacerbating inequalities,” said Associate Professor of Microbiology at Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan, who also worked on the study. added Sadia Shakoor.
One problem is that global warming tends to accelerate bacterial growth and their so-called horizontal gene transfer, the process by which bacteria exchange genetic material with each other. Because of these twin links, high temperatures are “inextricably linked” to AMR. on paper It was published last year in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Increased rainfall and flooding also increases the risk of horizontal gene transfer due to contamination of water supplies with antibiotics and human waste containing traces of antibiotics. According to a paper in the Journal of Environmental Research, wastewater is a “reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs).”
Another proposed cause of the prevalence of AMR in wastewater is contamination with microplastics (debris from consumer products and industrial waste). They are thought to act as breeding grounds for bacteria, allowing them to thrive. Forms a “biofilm” Facilitates the transmission of antibiotic resistance genes.
Other pollutants may also be involved in the spread of AMR. These contain heavy metals, such as those found in high concentrations in the River Tyne in the UK due to historic mining and industrial activity. Papers for 2022 Published in “Environmental Pollution” magazine. Researchers have found rising levels of bacterial species that carry “gene cassettes” that tend to spread antibiotic resistance.
A further concern is that AMR could become more prevalent as socio-economic impacts related to climate change weaken people's immune systems. This includes food shortages due to natural disasters, population displacement, and areas becoming too hot to live in.
But experts believe that a variety of changes in activity could help curb the role of pollution in causing AMR. These include increased monitoring of wastewater composition, stricter discharge limits for antibiotic residues, and further research to establish exactly which sources of pollution are most harmful.
More broadly, scientists working on AMR are urging the implementation of measures to reduce the impact of flooding and other extreme weather events on communities' access to clean water and good sanitation.
Experts warn that the cost of inaction is that essential medicines we have relied on for years will no longer be effective.
“Climate change and antimicrobial resistance are two of the most pressing and interconnected global health challenges we face today,” said Dr. Alistair Farley argues.
“This is a Catch-22 situation, where increasing global infection rates and increasing consumption of antibiotics will eventually lead to drugs becoming ineffective,” he says.
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