Climate change and the spread of disease

Scientists have understood for decades that climate change would change the way diseases spread, but as the planet warms, those hypotheses are being tested in real time.

There are many links between climate change and infectious diseases, but one particularly novel and concerning area of knowledge is how rising temperatures are making our natural immune systems less effective.

Our bodies go into fever mode trying to kill pathogens at higher body temperatures. But as the climate heats up, pathogens are becoming more resistant to higher temperatures.

So, every time we have a hot day, we have a natural selection event.

– Ed Rowell, Mojo PR