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- Researchers studied the effects of different temperatures on a crustacean model that transmits disease.
- They discovered that different temperatures can affect disease transmission in complex ways.
- They concluded that further research on how temperature regimes impact host-pathogen dynamics is essential for predicting the impacts of climate change on human health and the environment.
Researchers predict that climate change will increase the Earth’s mean temperature, cause temperature fluctuations, and increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. How these changes will impact infectious disease and impact
ResearchIt is shown that temperature variation can alter host-pathogen dynamics. One StudyIt was found that daily temperature fluctuations can increase malaria transmission.
Continue reading ResearchIt has been shown that extreme heat events can have a significant impact on host-pathogen dynamics. This may be due to the intensity, duration and magnitude of the heatwave.
One example:
Understanding how host-pathogen dynamics react to temperature variation could help policymakers and researchers prepare for the effects climate change will have on them.
Recent research by researchers found that Dr. Pepijn LuijckxProfessor in parasite biology at Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), he studied the effects of temperature on host-pathogen dynamics.
They discovered that temperature variation can alter pathogen-host interactions in complex and unexpected ways, which may impact disease dynamics in an unexpected way.
“Here, we show that temperature variation with each of the traits we measured […] responds in a unique way to different types of temperature variation,” Dr. Luijckx told Medical News Today. “Given that our mathematical models for disease spread rely on numerous variables, and our results show that each of these may respond in a unique way to both changes in temperature mean and variance, predicting how global warming may alter diseases may be incredibly complex.”
The study appears in eLife.
The researchers looked at the effects of different temperatures upon small crustaceans called
Researchers often use DaphniaResearch on ecological model systems includes: OrdosporaTransmission is representative of classical environment transmission, similar to viral infections like SARS-CoV-2.
Then, they subjected the parasites and a placebo to three temperature settings for 27 days.
- Temperatures constants that range from 50 to 100 degrees Celsius°F (10°C) to 82.4°F (28°C)
- daily temperature fluctuations ±3°C
- constant temperature regime with a 3-day heatwave rising temperatures by 6°C
The team selected the temperature regimes to mimic temperature events that occur in the study subjects’ natural environments, such as rock pools and small ponds.
Researchers observed temperature effects in 492 people. During the experiment, they assessed host longevity, fecundity — the ability to produce offspring, infection status, and the number of Ordospora Spores can be found in the host’s stomach.
The researchers found that regardless of the temperature regime, Ordospora reached optimal performance at roughly 66.2°F (19°C).
Although there was a decrease of infectivity, spore burden and other factors among the affected, Ordospora-exposed Daphnia The infectivity of parasites infected by heatwaves was nearly the same as that in constant temperatures.
Researchers noted that temperature variation can have different effects depending on how close it is to the optimum temperature and the average background temperature.
For example, spore burden at 60.8°F (16°C) differed by almost an order of magnitude between fluctuating temperature regimes — at 86 spore clusters — and heatwaves: 737 spore clusters.
“That a heatwave of 6°C above ambient can lead to an almost 10-fold higher level of disease burden at 16℃ when compared to fluctuating temperatures was remarkable,” said Dr. Lujickx. “Moreover, that this same heatwave, when applied to different mean temperatures, led to either no difference with fluctuating temperatures or even an opposite outcome was unexpected.”
Exposure to the outdoors was generally a good way to reduce host fitness Ordospora spores, or the experience of a variable climate regime. The researchers discovered that Ordospora-exposed Daphnia Comparing to controls, there was a 8% reduction in reproductive success at constant temperatures and 24% in daily fluctuations. Ordospora.
They claim that this means that the parasites might be able to adjust to new temperatures quicker than their hosts under certain circumstances.
The researchers explained their findings by noting that according to the Temperature variability hypothesisParasites are smaller than their hosts and therefore have a faster metabolism. Parasites would be able to outperform their hosts in unpredicted environments like a heatwave.
They suggested that host resistance might also decline due to a trade-offBetween energy requirement for acclimatization, and immunity from thriving disease agents.
Dr. Luijckx said that while this is the most promising explanation, some aspects of their findings remain unclear: “While this theory can explain the observed increase in the number of spores of the pathogen at 16℃, it cannot, however, explain why we see that the outcome depends on the mean temperature. Other theories, however, have suggested that when the disease has a smaller temperature tolerance than its host, this may lead to a reduction in disease performance at temperatures that exceed its tolerance.”
The researchers concluded that it is crucial to improve our understanding of temperature variation in host-parasite dynamics for predicting disease dynamics as climate change changes.
The team found several limitations in their findings. Dr. Luijckx explained how their experiments were limited to one water flea species and one disease. It is not clear if the findings could be applicable to other organisms or lead to higher levels disease in livestock, agriculture, vectors, or other animals.
He added: “Moreover, our study was conducted at an individual level. To fully understand disease dynamics and outbreaks, it is necessary to examine how extreme weather and temperature variations affect disease outbreaks at a population-level. We are planning to do such experiments soon.”
“We have to be careful in extrapolating these results to homeotherms like people, whales, and larger charismatic endangered species,” Dr. Joseph K. Gaydos, VMD, Ph.D.Chief scientist at the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine told MNT. Dr. Gaydos wasn’t involved in the study.
“Still, that said, what happens to very small, even microscopic creatures has a huge effect on much larger species. Imagine what parasitic changes in krill — a small oceanic poikilothermic plankton — could do to krill populations and how that could affect whales that eat krill,” he continued.
Dr. Luijckx answered the question:
“Our findings, if they apply to other diseases, suggest that ongoing climate change could alter where and when disease outbreaks occur.”
“However, to accurately predict disease spread with ongoing global warming and inform health policy, we will need to first explore the generality of our findings, identify the mechanism responsible for our observations, and test if our findings still hold when we do similar experiments with whole populations.”
Dr. Gaydos added: “We think a lot about how climate change will affect [the]Distribution of human, domestic and wildlife parasites like ticks or mosquitoes. But we often forget that even small organisms, like freshwater plankton, can be distributed.Daphnia) have parasites and that climate-related changes in host-parasite interaction [are] going to have major implications on up the food chain.”
“That means we, as scientists, need to think a little broader than we currently are thinking. Human health is tied to animal health and environmental health, and the complexities are huge.”
“For me, the biggest take home is this: Kunze, Luijckx, and team have reminded us that despite all of our efforts to predict how our changing climate will affect disease, parasitism, humans, domestic animals, and wild populations, it’s still a crapshoot as to what is going to happen out there.”
“Not only do we need to be paying better attention, we need to get our A-game on to better plan for climate resiliency. Yes, the world is going to change in some of the ways we expect, but there are going to be a lot of curveballs coming our way.”
– Dr. Gaydos
“This paper reminds us that it won’t just be linear — constant higher temperatures will not produce the same things, as more extreme fluctuations and heatwaves can also have differing effects. We can only prepare for uncertainty by doing better with the limited natural resources that we have now and making sure we have as much resilience in natural systems as possible so that the system can compensate. The global 30×30 initiative is a promising opportunity,” he concluded.
