Climate change could be driving antibiotic resistance

A study found that higher local temperatures and population densities correlate with a higher degree of antibiotic resistance in common bacterial strains Climate change is wreaking havoc across the globe — melting ice caps, causing dangerous weather and decimating animal populations. New research has found that it could also be increasing antibiotic resistance in bacteria. A team of epidemiologists from Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital and the University of Toronto have found that higher local temperatures and population densities correspond with a higher degree of antibiotic resistance in common bacterial strains. Previously, increase in resistance to common bacteria was thought to come from over- prescribing antibiotics. A study found that higher local temperatures and population densities correlate with a higher degree of antibiotic resistance in common bacterial strains. In 2016 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that approximately 30 percent of prescribed antibiotics are unnecessary. The effects of climate are increasingly being recognized in a variety of infectious diseases, but so far as we know this is the first time it has been implicated in the distribution of antibiotic resistance over geographies, said lead study author and infectious disease specialist and research fellow at Boston Children's Derek MacFadden. “We also found a signal that the associations between antibiotic resistance and temperature could be increasing over time,” he said. The researchers found that an increase of 50 degrees Fahrenheit is associated with increases of antibioticresistant strains of E. coli and S. aureus. The study pulled together a database of US antibiotic resistance pulling from hospital, laboratory and disease surveillance data documented between 2013 and 2015.