Intensifying climate change is causing drought to spread globally, altering the patterns of water-dependent pathogens and prompting scientists to investigate how infectious disease transmission is evolving.
In 2025, drought affected approximately 30% of the Earth’s land surface, nearly double the area impacted in 2000. While it was previously assumed that drought would reduce infectious diseases, scientists now understand this is not the case. A review of 100 previous studies published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution highlights the ecological processes behind this drought-disease paradox, noting that drought influences interactions between plants, animals, and parasites, affecting which pathogens thrive or decline.
Source: Mongabay