COP16 | CMP6 - Noticias - Sala de Prensa

COP16 | CMP6 - Noticias - Sala de Prensa

Global warming is not just about tolerating the sweltering nights over the summer ― it has important health-related consequences as rising temperatures facilitate the fast spread of epidemic diseases. The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) announced Sunday that a 1 degree Celsius increase in average temperature leads to a 4.27-percent jump in the prevalence of various epidemics.

``For most people, a 1 degree rise in temperature may not seem like much. However, it could mean that they become by far more vulnerable to infectious diseases,’’ an official at the KIHASA said.

``In extreme cases, a 1 degree rise in temperature resulted in as much as a 6 percent increase in the spread of diseases. Overall, high temperatures are seemingly responsible for more brisk activities of viruses.’’

The state-run think-tank traced occurrences of a total of five epidemics during three years from 2005 through 2007 including malaria, bacillary dysentery and enteritis caused by vibrio. The Seoul-based KIHASA also checked demographical differences by tracking the correlations between the risks of intestinal inflammation with climate change.

Overall, the outfit found that a 1 degree rise in temperature saw 6.84 percent more people suffer from intestinal inflammation and senior citizens in particular were found to be more susceptible. This is bad news for Koreans as the country is expected to see a sharp rise of ambient temperatures in the long run, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.