Previously published. Written by Shilpa Mistry MHS, PA-C.
It’s August and you have a 70-year-old patient admitted to your service with mild erythema and purulent drainage from a small leg wound with ongoing fevers at home. The patient reports swimming outdoors in a local pond, and to you this sounds like a typical case of cellulitis, until the blood cultures reveal gram negative rod bacteria, with the final cultures growing Vibrio vulnificus. The Infectious Disease team is consulted, and thankfully the patient does well, is treated with Ciprofloxacin, and returns home in a few days without complications.
This is one example of how climate change is contributing to the rise of different infectious diseases that are not commonly seen, such as those caused by Vibrio. The CDC estimates that approximately 17 different bacterial, fungal, and viral infections are on the rise as health threats due to climate change. Tickborne illnesses such as Anaplasmosis and Erlichiosis, and mosquito-borne illnesses such as West Nile Virus are on the rise as warmer temperatures allow ticks and mosquitoes more time to reproduce and spread disease. Warm, brackish waters can provide a great place for Vibrio to thrive, so with water temperatures rising, we have seen more infections this summer. In the West, dry, drought-stricken areas are prone to fungal infections. Cryptosporidiosis, Histoplasmosis, Giardiasis, Rabies, Salmonellosis, and West Nile Virus are additional examples of infections that are becoming more evident with climate change. All of these diseases are reportable in the state of Connecticut per the DPH website. In these changing times, we all need to be able to recognize and treat these infections, and work towards finding methods to prevent and reduce their incidence.
References :
Climate Change and Infectious Diseases
Photo Credit: Photo by Hasin Hayder on Unsplash