The Drought-Disease Paradox
New Comprehensive Study Finds Drought Can Fuel the Spread of Dangerous Diseases
Anonymous
A review of nearly 100 studies finds drought can reshape the spread of disease across humans and other animals in unexpected ways. While drying ponds and lakes can reduce some infections, including malaria and schistosomiasis, other diseases such as cholera, West Nile virus and dengue can increase—an effect researchers call the “drought-disease paradox.” The findings highlight that drought’s effects on disease depend on the pathogen and its environment, rather than simply on whether a disease needs water.
Key Points
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The review was prompted in part by fieldwork in California pond ecosystems: Tara Stewart Merrill said more than half of the researchers’ study sites suddenly dried up.
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The articles describe drought’s wider impacts, including historically low Colorado River reservoirs and extended water outages in Puerto Rico, where drought worsened an existing infrastructure crisis.
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In Europe, record-low Danube and Rhine levels disrupted nuclear power plants and damaged crops; the articles also report that critical drought affected more than 60% of farmland in Italy.
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