As if the consequences of climate change aren't bad enough, a shocking new study found that over half of all human diseases can be worsened by climate change.
In a new study, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, an international team of researchers combed through several decades' worth of scientific papers that directly documented human pathogens affected by "climactic hazard."
The scientists were able to map out 1,006 pathways between human pathogens and ten climate-related hazards.
More than half of the diseases have been shown to be worsened by climate change.
It is not good news that the world is still afflicted by an ongoing Pandemic, with a significant outbreak of Monkeypox already being treated as a national Health Emergency by the Biden administration.
According to the authors, climate change's ability to affect diseases has been known for a long time.
Four key ways climate change affects human pathogens were outlined in a piece for The Conversation.
The first two ways talk about the tendency for pathogens and humans to be in close proximity. Changing rain patterns and heat waves can bring mosquitos to population centers and cause a higher number of humans to go into water that harbors waterborne diseases.
Climate change could be making the pathogens stronger. According to the researchers, rising temperatures have helped diseases acclimate to heat, as well as standing water that can serve as a breeding ground for disease-spreading mosquitoes.
The study shows how climate change affects the human body. Humans may be forced to live in crowded unsanitary conditions in the aftermath of a climate disaster. Malnutrition can be caused by a lack of a good supply of food.
Climate change has been linked to an increase in weather- related disasters over the last 50 years.
Scientists say that this isn't an obstacle that humans will be able to overcome.
The lead author and associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at UH Mnoa told ABC News that they can deal with the magnitude of the vulnerability.
He said that 58 percent of the diseases can be affected or triggered in 1000 different ways. The fact that we are not going to be able to adapt to climate change was also revealed by that.
Mora told The Huffington Post that it was so naive for them to think they would be able to adapt. We can't fully adapt with so many different diseases.
Mora's outlook doesn't leave much room for optimism, but the hard truth is that we need to drastically reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases.
The Senate Democrats passed a climate and energy bill.
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