ISLAMABAD: A new study has found that climate change may be contributing to a rise in antibiotic resistance, adding a serious new dimension to one of the world’s fastest-growing public health threats.
Published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health, the research suggests that increasing global temperatures are linked to higher levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, particularly in pathogens such as Salmonella, which is responsible for common bacterial infections worldwide.
Antibiotic resistance is already considered a major global health crisis, with experts warning it could cause more than one million deaths annually if current trends continue.
The study found a measurable connection between climate change and rising resistance patterns, indicating that warming temperatures may be accelerating bacterial adaptation and genetic changes that make infections harder to treat.
Researchers analysed data collected between 1940 and 2023 from 139 countries, including more than 480,000 Salmonella samples. The analysis compared changes in average temperatures with the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes.
The findings showed that as temperatures increased, rates of antibiotic resistance also rose, alongside changes in genetic structures that enhance bacterial survival against treatment.
While researchers stressed that the overuse of antibiotics remains the primary driver of resistance, they warned that climate change is increasingly worsening the problem on a global scale.
Scientists involved in the study said the evidence suggests that environmental factors linked to climate change are helping bacteria spread and evolve more rapidly, calling for stronger global policies that address both climate change and antimicrobial resistance together.
They also noted that higher temperatures may be altering bacterial behaviour and accelerating the development of resistance mechanisms, although further research is needed to fully understand the link.
Experts say the findings highlight an urgent need for coordinated international action, combining climate policy with public health strategies to contain the growing threat of drug-resistant infections.
