Study - Global Warming Accelerating The Spread Of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Salmonella Bacteria
The climate crisis is accelerating a global increase in antibiotic resistance that poses a serious threat to human health, experts have said as figures show a rise in salmonella antibiotic resistant genes. Antibiotic resistance is one of the fastest-growing threats to global health. It can affect people of any age in any country and already kills more than 1 million people a year, according to estimates.
Now a study, led by researchers from the UK, France, Australia, Switzerland and China, has revealed how climate change is linked to rising antibiotic resistance in salmonella, one of the world’s most common bacterial diseases.
Climate change is associated with a 10% global increase in salmonella antibiotic resistance genes between 1940 and 2023, according to the first-of-its-kind study, which has been published in the Lancet Planetary Health journal. The main drivers of antibiotic resistance are still the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, which are used to treat infections. But the research suggested the problem is being worsened by climate change.
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Antimicrobial resistance is mainly driven by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, which allows resistant bacteria to survive and spread. However, rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns can influence how bacteria survive, mutate and spread, potentially increasing the exchange of antibiotic resistance genes, the researchers said. Previous studies have linked higher temperatures to greater levels of resistant bacteria, but until now global quantitative studies on the link have been limited.
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/26/climate-crisis-accelerating-antibiotic-resistance-across-world-salmonella-study