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Antibiotic resistance is a growing threat — is climate change making it worse?

Researchers are studying how extreme weather and rising temperatures can encourage the spread of drug-resistant infections.
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  1. Carissa Wong
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A man carrying waterbottles wades through green stagnant water surrounded by derelict buildings.

Flooding in Bangladesh in 2020 compromised the safety of water supplies. Credit: Zabed Hasnain Chowdhury/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty

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In 2021, microbiologist Adwoa Padiki Nartey caught a bacterial infection and her tonsils started to swell. She’d had the same symptoms the year before; both illnesses occurred during one of two annual rainy seasons in Ghana’s capital, Accra, where she lives. In these seasons, she knew, high humidity and moisture spur microbial growth. Doctors prescribed antibiotics but, unlike before, the drugs didn’t work. The bacteria had become resistant.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-04077-0

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