Claim: Colorado School of Public Health review finds climate change makes it harder to control diseases like cyclosporiasis
“We actually don’t know a lot about cyclospora and climate. But what we do know is that cyclospora is very similar to other pathogens that do really well at warm temperatures,” Beth Carlton, the review’s co-author and chair of the the University of Colorado Anschutz’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, told Denver7 this week.
The review found that climate change does not affect all disease-causing microorganisms, or pathogens, in the same way.
“We did a review of studies that have been done, looking at the relationship between climate and waterborne diseases, and it’s pretty clear that high temperatures, heavy rainfall, drought, and extreme weather events like hurricanes are all shifting waterborne disease patterns,” Carlton said.
Carlton added frequent extreme weather events are undermining the progress made in the U.S. to reduce waterborne diseases, making it harder to control some of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases.
“I think what we really need, given that climatological conditions are changing, is the ability to monitor our food systems and make sure that they are staying safe under a changing climate, so that public health can detect these outbreaks and respond effectively,” Carlton said.