Did Climate Change Influence the Emergence, Transmission, and Expression of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Abstract

The human race has survived many epidemics and pandemics that have emerged and reemerged throughout history. The novel coronavirus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 is the latest pandemic and this has caused major health and socioeconomic problems in almost all communities of the world. The origin of the virus is still in dispute but most likely, the virus emerged from the bats and also may involve an intermediate host before affecting humans. Several other factors also may have affected the emergence and outcome of the infection but in this review, we make a case for a possible role of climate change. The rise in industrialization-related human activities has created a marked imbalance in the homeostasis of environmental factors such as temperature and other weather and these might even have imposed conditions for the emergence of future coronavirus cycles. An attempt is made in this review to explore the effect of ongoing climate changes and discuss if these changes had a role in facilitating the emergence, transmission, and even the expression of the COVID-19 pandemic. We surmise that pandemics will be more frequent in the future and more severely impactful unless climate changes are mitigated.

Yoga and meditation, an essential tool to alleviate stress and enhance immunity to emerging infections: A perspective on the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on students

“…Long-term stress-related chronic inflammations is also linked with higher risk for several diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases ( Dhabhar, 2014 ; Furman et al, 2019 ; Liu et al, 2017 ). Several reports have shown that the presence of underlying comorbidities such as cerebrovascular diseases, chronic lung diseases, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension could increase the incidence and severity of SARS COV-2 infection ( Callender et al, 2020 ; Ejaz et al, 2020 ; Gupta et al, 2021 ; Honardoost et al, 2021 ). With current day lifestyle, incidences of diabetes, hypertension, and mental health-related diseases are increasing in young adults ( Asif, 2014 ; Di Renzo et al, 2020 ; C. Zheng et al, 2020 ).…”

Recent Links between Zoonosis and a Catastrophic Global Climate Change

“…Bats also have significant quantities of heat shock proteins, which defend them against high temperatures and oxidative stress by chaperoning viral proteins and giving the ability to cause virus mutations. Another noteworthy anti-microbial function is mediated by their gut flora, which produces compounds that aid in the formation of their immunological defences" [45].…”

“…A variety of meteorological conditions may have contributed to the propagation of the virus during the COVID-19 pandemic, but more study is needed to understand how these processes function [45].…”

Carbon Footprint of High Institute of Public Health Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic

“…It also increases the spread of diseases, emerging infectious diseases, and pandemics. (2,3) The scientific community focuses research on CO2 concentrations more than other greenhouse gases due to the gas abundance in the atmosphere. It is also the main contributor to climate change.…”