Infection Risk Management: Impact of Climate Change on Waterborne Infections

INFECTION
RISK
MANAGEMNET

Introduction:
• Climate change is one the major issues affecting the health of people.
• Increasing changes in climate leads to increasing change in health
conditions.
• Direct effects- increasing exposure temperature, change in weather and
flood (Hoberg, E. P., & Brooks, D. R. (2015).
• Indirect environmental effects- exposure to disease, microbes and air
pollutants.
• World health organization has been observing increasing rate of
occurrence of water-borne infectious diseases such as cryptosporidiosis,
Salmonellosis and giardiasis (Raiten & Combs, 2019).

Infectious risk due to climate change:
• Climate change is one of the major factors contributing to the
negative impact on the health of the population.
• The change in weather and climate induces a suitable condition
for the growth and development of the infectious organisms
(Mahon & Doyle, 2017).
• Infections that has been majorly effecting the population during
climate change are Cryptosporidiosis, Giardiasis and
Salmonellosis, a water-borne infection which effects the gastro-
intestinal region of a person causing severe condition of diarrhoea,
abdominal cramp, fever and vomiting (Walker, 2018).

Impact of climate change to the water-
borne infections:
• Cryptosporidiosis, Giardiasis and Salmonellosis are found to
occur more often during the late summers and the early falls.
• During the season the people are exposed to the bacteria and the
other pathogens in greater manner.
• The temperature and moisture in the air provides a better
atmosphere for the bacteria and the pathogens to grow (Nasir et
al., 2017).