Upstream | July 23, 2012 | 8 comments

Bacteria outbreak in Northern Europe due to ocean warming

source: http://news.sky.com/story/963778/europes-warming-seas-causing-stomach-bugs

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JanforGore
Stomach bugs are being caused by a new bacteria group that has emerged in northern Europe due to manmade climate change, according to researchers.

A paper written by a group of international experts offers some of the first firm evidence that the warming patterns of the Baltic Sea have coincided with the emergence of Vibrio infections in the north of the continent.

Vibrios is a group of bacteria which usually grow in warm and tropical marine environments.

It can cause various infections in humans, ranging from cholera to gastroenteritis-like symptoms from eating raw or undercooked shellfish or from exposure to seawater.

A team of scientists from institutions in Britain, Finland, Spain and the United States examined sea surface temperature records and satellite data, as well as statistics on Vibrio cases in the Baltic.

And their paper, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, reveals they found the number and distribution of cases in the Baltic Sea area was strongly linked to peaks in sea surface temperatures.

The Baltic Sea has warmed faster than any other sea over the last century

Each year the temperature rose one degree - while the number of Vibrio cases increased almost 200%.

Craig Baker-Austin, from the UK-based Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, one of the authors of the study, said: "The big apparent increases that we've seen in cases during heat wave years... tend to indicate that climate change is indeed driving infections.

"Certainly the chances of getting a vibrio infection are considered to be relatively low, and more research is focused on areas where these diseases are endemic or at least more common."

Climate studies show that rising greenhouse gas emissions made global average surface temperatures increase by about 0.17 degrees Celsius each decade from 1980 to 2010.

The Vibrio study focused on the Baltic Sea in particular because it warmed at an unprecedented rate of 0.063 to 0.078 degrees Celsius a year from 1982 to 2010, or 6.3 to 7.8 degrees a century.
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8 comments // Bacteria outbreak in Northern Europe due to ocean warming

  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Again, the red herring argument that if you don't believe man is contributing to climate change that the effects of it can be dismissed raises its head. It is baseless in the face of reality. Whether or not you believe man is contributing to this even with the evidence staring you in the face there is no doubt that its effects particularly regarding health are being felt. And that is not just in one place. This is a global issue. Why is it so hard for some to understand that humans and other species are suffering and dying based on current conditions in this world exacerbated by our own actions? The intensity of weather events we are seeing and have seen are bringing about changes that are now affecting food production, water availability and biodiversity as our world population increases. However, by making you think man has no part in this or taking you for a ride in their time machine they will try to divert the conversation and make you believe it is something we shouldn't worry about now when there is so much more to this than just a date. That is the same insanity, ignorance and irresponsibility hawked by the Merchants Of Doubt (credit Dr. Naomi Oreskes) and it should not be entertained by those who know the truth and know how to read.

      "Stomach bugs are being caused by a new bacteria group that has emerged in northern Europe due to manmade climate change, according to researchers.

      A paper written by a group of international experts offers some of the first firm evidence that the warming patterns of the Baltic Sea have coincided with the emergence of Vibrio infections in the north of the continent.

      Vibrios is a group of bacteria which usually grow in warm and tropical marine environments."
      ___
      * "a "new" bacteria group that has emerged in northern Europe due to manmade climate change"...

      * "which usually grow in warm and tropical marine environments."...

      * "a "new" bacteria group that has emerged in northern Europe due to manmade climate change"...

      * "which usually grow in warm and tropical marine environments."...

      .

    • 10 months ago
  • Mishima
  • Mishima
    • 0
      Mishima [removed]  
    • Image

    • It appears people are quick to forget the past..... But the whacked-out environmentalists scream "CRISIS!" They scream that we must take IMMEDIATE ACTION TO DIVERT A CATASTROPHE.

    • 10 months ago
  • coolplanet
    • +3
      coolplanet  

    • "Each year the temperature rose one degree, the number of vibrio cases rose almost 200 percent."

      Just one little degree! 200 percent???
      We don't want to see a two degree rise, although we are looking at six degrees or more if we continue to do nothing.

    • 10 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • coolplanet
  • JanforGore
  • Mishima
    • 0
      Mishima [removed]  
    • JanforGore:

      A peer-reviewed study on the affect of humans on the global climate has shown that over 80% of climate changes over the ladder half of the 20th Century can be attributed to nature. Further, the study found that human activity has little affect on the climate.
      Three Australasian researchers have shown that natural forces are the dominant influence on climate, in a study just published in the highly-regarded Journal of Geophysical Research. According to this study little or none of the late 20th century global warming and cooling can be attributed to human activity.
      The research, by Chris de Freitas, a climate scientist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, John McLean (Melbourne) and Bob Carter (James Cook University), finds that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a key indicator of global atmospheric temperatures seven months later. As an additional influence, intermittent volcanic activity injects cooling aerosols into the atmosphere and produces significant cooling.
      “The surge in global temperatures since 1977 can be attributed to a 1976 climate shift in the Pacific Ocean that made warming El Niño conditions more likely than they were over the previous 30 years and cooling La Niña conditions less likely” says corresponding author de Freitas.
      “We have shown that internal global climate-system variability accounts for at least 80% of the observed global climate variation over the past half-century. It may even be more if the period of influence of major volcanoes can be more clearly identified and the corresponding data excluded from the analysis.”

    • 10 months ago
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