Warm Weather Increases Hospital Infections, And What That Might Mean For Climate Change | Wired Science | Wired.com

Moreover, for every 10-degree Fahrenheit rise in mean temperature, there was a rise in infections with those same Gram-negatives. The increase varied from 3.5 percent for E. coli to 10.8 percent for Acinetobacter, independent of any changes in the season, the humidity or amounts of precipitation. Changes in temperature also affected S. aureus and MRSA, but much less: Those infections rose 2.2 percent for every 10-degree change.

Why should this be? Since hospitals in the United States are climate-controlled, the authors say it most likely represents the influence of the environment outside the hospital. Warmer weather leads to more bacterial growth; the presence of more bacteria increases the likelihood that some of them will be carried into hospitals by staff or visitors.

Flashback: AFGHANISTAN: Severe winter causes more pneumonia child deaths

HERAT, 6 March 2007 (IRIN) - Doctors in Afghanistan say that a particularly cold winter this year has increased the number of children dying of pneumonia. Thousands of children contract the respiratory illness every winter in Afghanistan, where difficult living conditions and inadequate medical care can make it a fatal illness.