Posted on 16 June 2018 by John Hartz

Editor's Pick

In a Warming World, Deadly Bacteria Are More Resistant to Antibiotics  

E. coli bacteria. Source: NIAID

Tom Patterson became ill in 2015 while vacationing in Egypt. He was felled by Acinetobacter baumannii, an often deadly bacterium resistant to every antibiotic his doctors tried. Patterson, a University of California San Diego psychiatry professor, should have died, but didn’t. (Experimental infusions of bacteria-killing viruses known as bacteriophages ultimately saved his life.) But his near-death experience from a superbug he picked up in a warm country?—?an organism that also has afflicted many hospitalized wounded troops in Iraq and Kuwait?—?raises provocative questions about drug-resistant bacteria and their relationship to our increasingly hotter planet.

“Travelers returning from tropical and other warm areas where multi-drug resistant pathogens have become more widespread will increasingly challenge the antibiotics on our shelves,” said Robert T. Schooley, an infectious diseases specialist at UC San Diego, who treated Patterson. “Turning up the temperature of the incubator in which we live will clearly speed the evolutionary clock of bacterial and other pathogens with which we must co-exist.”

Experts already know that climate change has become a significant threat to global public health, particularly as rising temperatures have produced greater populations of disease-transmitting insects, such as mosquitoes. But warmth also encourages bacteria to grow, providing them a chance to mutate and elude drugs that once easily killed them. While antibiotic resistance is believed largely due to the indiscriminate prescribing of antibiotics, experts now think that other environmental stresses?—?climate change among them?—?also may be at work.

The world is confronting a growing and frightening danger from multi-drug-resistant infections, with many now difficult or impossible to treat. The World Health Organization has described this scenario as “one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today.” There are more than 2 million cases and 23,000 deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections annually in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

In a Warming World, Deadly Bacteria Are More Resistant to Antibiotics by Marlene Cimons, Climate Nexus, June 14, 2018

Links posted on Facebook

Sun June 10, 2018

• New research, May 28 - June 3, 2018 by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Science, June 8, 2018
• Scientists urged to 'speak the same language' as public on climate by Zoe Tabary, Thomson Reuters Foundation, June 5, 2018
• G6 leaders advance climate agenda while Trump’s US defends fossil fuels by Megan Darby, Climate Home News, June 10, 2018
• Maybe we can afford to suck CO₂ out of the sky after all by James Temple, MIT Technology Review, June 7, 2018
• In the Trump Administration, Science Is Unwelcome. So Is Advice. by Coral Davenport, Climate, New York Times, June 9, 2018
• Opposing onshore UK windfarms 'means higher energy bills' by Adam Vaughn, Business, Guardian, June 10, 2018
• 10 key moments on the road to the Cop24 climate talks by Soila Apparicio, Climate Home News, June 8, 2018

Mon June 11, 2018

• Farmer groups support split gas approach to climate change proposal by Esther Tauton, Stuff.nz.co, June 11, 2018
• Move over Elon: global energy prize goes to Australia's solar guru by Sophie Varrath, Environment, Guardian, June 8, 2018
• Propping up failing coal and nuclear plants in the name of national security is a disgraceful sham, Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times, June 7, 2018
• Can Alaska rely on oil and address climate change? State officials are about to find out. by Adam Wernick, PRI (Public Radio International), June 10, 2018
• Benefits of curbing climate change far outweigh costs by Dana Nuccitelli, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, June 11, 2018
• Six of the G7 Commit to Climate Action. Trump Wouldn’t Even Join Conversation. by Staff, InsideClimate news, June 10, 2018
• Climate change strips nutrients from food crops by Ineke Mules, Deutsche Welle (DW) June 11, 2018
• Climate Change Could Lead to Major Crop Failures in World’s Biggest Corn Regions by Georgina Gustin, InsideClimate News, June 11, 2018

Tue June 12, 2018

• The Wall Street Journal keeps peddling Big Oil propaganda by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Environment, Guardian, June 11, 2018
• Trees That Have Lived for Millennia Are Suddenly Dying by Ed Yong, Science, The Atlantic, June 11, 2018
• Increased deaths and illnesses from inhaling airborne dust: An understudied impact of climate change by Ploy Achakulwisut, Loretta Mickley & Susan Anenberg, The Conversation US, June 11, 2018
• Activists channel Martin Luther King with new national climate campaign by Oliver Milman, Guardian, June 11, 2018
• INSIGHT - Billions in U.S. solar projects shelved after Trump panel tariff by Nichola Groom, Thomson Reuters Foundation, June 7, 2018
• Could science diplomacy be the key to stabilizing international relations? by Paul Arthur Berkman, The Conversation US, June 11, 2018
• What are average global temperature targets hiding? by Sarah DeWeerdt, Anthropocene, June 12, 2018
• Scientists underestimated how quickly oceans are losing oxygen by Kay Vandette, Earth.com, June 11, 2018

Wed June 13, 2018

• Merkel's Widening Emissions Gap Piles Pressure on Coal Power by Brian Parkin, Bloomberg News, June 11, 2018
• EU closes in on clean energy package, with Spain, Italy joining push for higher targets by Megan Darby, Climate Home News, June 11, 2018
• The U.S. diet is a climate disaster. Here are four easy fixes. by Caitlin Dewey, Wonkblog, Washington Post, June 11, 2018
• World can ‘safely’ store billions of tonnes of CO2 underground by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, June 12, 2018
• The U.S. just observed its warmest 3-, 4-, and 5-year spans on record by Jason Samenow, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, June 12, 2018
• Antarctic ice loss has tripled in a decade. If that continues we are in serious trouble. by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, June 13, 2018
• How to save Antarctica (and the rest of Earth too), Imperial College of London, Phys.org, June 13. 2018
• Coral reefs losing ability to keep pace with sea-level rise, University of Exeter, Phys.org, June 13, 2018

Thu June 14, 2018

• Capitalism is killing the planet and needs to change, says investor Jeremy Grantham by Fred Imbert, CNBC, June 13, 2018
• Have International Climate Negotiations Outlived Their Usefulness? by Eric J Lyman, Pacific Standard, June 13, 2018
• Alien Anthropocene: How Would Other Worlds Battle Climate Change? by Lee Billings, Scientific American, June 13, 2018
• Big Oil CEOs needed a climate change reality check. The pope delivered, Opinion by Bill Mckibben, Comment is Free, Guardian, June 14, 2018
• The legal fight to leave the dirtiest fossil fuels in the ground by John Abraham, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Environment, Guardian, June 14, 2018
• EXCLUSIVE - Global warming set to exceed 1.5°C, slow growth -UN draft by Alister Doyle, Reuters, June 14, 2018
• Uncovering the Mental Health Crisis of Climate Change by Jeremy Deaton, Nexus Media, June 12, 2018
• After Decades of Losing Ice, Antarctica Is Now Hemorrhaging It by Robinson Meyer, the Atlantic, June 13, 2018

Fri June 15, 2018

• Coal comeback spurs new carbon emissions growth, says BP by Ron Bousso, Reuters, June 13, 2018
• $1.6 Trillion Natural Gas Expansion Will Eliminate Any Chance Of Meeting Paris Carbon Goals by Steve Hanley, Ars Technica, June 14, 2018
• June 2018 ENSO Update: El Niño Watch! by Emily Becker, NOAA's Climate.gov, June 14, 2018
• Rare Glacial River Drains Potentially Harmful Lakes by Katherine Kornei, EOS, June 14, 2018
• Sucking carbon out of the air won’t solve climate change by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, June 14, 2018
• Ocean waves and lack of sea ice can trigger Antarctic ice shelves to disintegrate by Luke Bennetts, Rob Massom & Vernon Squire, The Conversation AU, June 14, 2018
• The most depressing energy chart of the year by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, June 15, 2018
• How global warming is causing ocean oxygen levels to fall, Guest Post by Andreas Oschlies, Peter Brandt, Lothar Stramma & Sunke Schmidtko, Carbon Brief, June 15, 2018

Sat June 16, 2018

• Pollinators, but No Pollen: Spring Heat Left Europe's Plants, Insects Out of Sync by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, June 15, 2018
• Boston has new rules to help buildings withstand climate change by John Chesto, Boston Globe, June 15, 2018
• As Nuclear Struggles, A New Generation Of Engineers Is Motivated By Climate Change by Jeff Brady, All Things Considered, NPR, June 15, 2018
• Washington Post article accurately describes latest estimate of accelerating Antarctic ice loss, Edited by Scott Johnson, Climate Feedback, June 15, 2018
• In a Warming World, Deadly Bacteria Are More Resistant to Antibiotics by Marlene Cimons, Climate Nexus, June 14, 2018
• UN aviation agency may include fossil fuels in emissions deal -sources by Allison Lampert & Julia Fioretti, Reuters, June 15, 2018
• Caroline Lucas on Heathrow and climate change: ‘The apocalypse is happening’, Saturday Interview by Decca Aitkenhead, Guardian, June 16, 2018
• There's No Power Grid Emergency Requiring a Coal Bailout, Regulators Say by John H Cushman Jr, InsideClimate News, June 12, 2018