A person's chances of acquiring a drug-resistant¹ infection may be higher if she lives in a warmer area.

 

A study appearing today in Nature Climate Change from researchers at the University of Toronto (U.T.) and Children's Hospital Boston links the emergence² of drug-resistant bacteria to a hotter climate. Researchers found a 10-degree Celsius³ increase in daily minimum temperature was associated with a small increase in resistance in common pathogens, including those that develop into methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the root of many persistent⁴ and sometimes deadly hospital infections. "This is a very important and timely study stemming from meticulously⁵ collected and arranged records of antibiotic⁶ resistance," says Elena Naumova, an epidemiologist at Tufts University who was not involved in the work. "What's great about this study is that they really broaden the concept of antibiotic-resistance patterns."

 

Scientists have long observed bacteria in the laboratory grow and reproduce more quickly at warmer temperatures. And increased growth can cause a hike in resistant strains when DNA⁷ mutations crop up during reproduction. Bacteria can also swap⁸ DNA with one another and spread resistance via a process called horizontal gene⁹ transfer, which also increases at higher temperatures. Now scientists are asking if this phenomenon also occurs outside the laboratory.

 

The research was enabled by a large-scale data collection effort to create a free and open Web-based application that gives the geographical¹⁰ locations of drug-resistant bacteria. The site, called Resistance Open, allows anyone in the world to punch in their postal¹¹ code and see which drug-resistant infections are present in their hometown. "For a physician, they can have a better understanding of what is happening in the community rather than just in their hospital," says John Brownstein, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-senior author of the study. And the tool allows scientists to see new patterns in drug resistance, such as how it may be affected¹² by climate.

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