Scientists have found a link between a heightened risk of flu and rapid weather swings that have become increasingly common in recent years due to climate change. The study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, examined more than a decade of health and weather data in the United States, mainland China, Italy, and France.
Historically, low temperatures and humidity in the winter were thought to foster the optimum conditions for transmitting the flu virus. But the 2017-2018 flu season was one of the warmest on record, and was also one of the deadliest, with 186 children dying in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control. The fall of 2017 saw wild swings in weather, and scientists at Florida State University and Nanjing University in China were curious whether those fluctuations were to blame for the severe flu season.
The researchers analyzed surface temperatures, weather patterns, and health records from January 1, 1997 to February 28, 2018, a total of 7,729 days. They found that years with intense weather fluctuations in the autumn months incited the flu, creating a robust patient population early in flu season that continued to grow throughout the winter.
Read more at Yale Environment 360
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