Turning up the heat....
Today seems like a good day to highlight the association of climate and infectious diseases—not only vector-borne infections like malaria, Zika, and dengue fever that spread with expansion of the vector’s range, but healthcare-associated infections as well.
Phil Polgreen and colleagues here at Iowa recently published two papers on this topic: one in ICHE, also covered in the NY Times, that found the odds of a surgical site infection (SSI) admission increased about 2% with every 2.8 degree Celsius increase in monthly average temperature (see Figure above for the effect of monthly average temperature on odds of SSI primary admissions). The other, in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, describes a seasonal increase in cellulitis during the summer months. Several prior studies have described seasonality of S. aureus, gram-negative rod, cellulitis and surgical site infections—all with higher rates associated with higher temperature seasons or regions (see full reference list from the OFID paper, which includes prior work from Eli and colleagues on gram-negative rod infections).
Today is also the start of National Accordion Awareness Month, so if you need some cheering up, here’s some awesome accordion work:
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