a, The relationship between Vibrio infections reported around the Baltic Sea area and maximum annual SST. Stars show observed data, dashed line shows GLM model predictions (based on the influence of SST alone). b, Time series of Baltic Sea Vibrio cases. Solid line shows observed cases and dotted line shows GLM model predictions based on the influence of maximum SST and time. Baker-Austin, et al., 2012

By Nina Chestney
22 July 2012 LONDON – Manmade climate change is the main driver behind the unexpected emergence of a group of bacteria in northern Europe which can cause gastroenteritis, new research by a group of international experts shows. The paper, published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Sunday, provided some of the first firm evidence that the warming patterns of the Baltic Sea have coincided with the emergence of Vibrio infections in northern Europe. Vibrios is a group of bacteria which usually grow in warm and tropical marine environments. The bacteria can cause various infections in humans, ranging from cholera to gastroenteritis-like symptoms from eating raw or undercooked shellfish or from exposure to seawater. A team of scientists from institutions in Britain, Finland, Spain and the United States examined sea surface temperature records and satellite data, as well as statistics on Vibrio cases in the Baltic. They found the number and distribution of cases in the Baltic Sea area was strongly linked to peaks in sea surface temperatures. Each year the temperature rose one degree, the number of vibrio cases rose almost 200 percent. “The big apparent increases that we’ve seen in cases during heat wave years (…) tend to indicate that climate change is indeed driving infections,” Craig Baker-Austin at the UK-based Centre for Environment, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Science, one of the authors of the study, told Reuters. Climate studies show that rising greenhouse gas emissions made global average surface temperatures increase by about 0.17 degrees Celsius a decade from 1980 to 2010. The Vibrio study focused on the Baltic Sea in particular because it warmed at an unprecedented rate of 0.063 to 0.078 degrees Celsius a year from 1982 to 2010, or 6.3 to 7.8 degrees a century. “(It) represents, to our knowledge, the fastest warming marine ecosystem examined so far anywhere on Earth,” the paper said. Many marine bacteria thrive in warm, low-saline sea water. In addition to warming, climate change has caused more frequent and heavier rainfall, which has reduced the salt content of estuaries and coastal wetlands. As ocean temperatures continue to rise and coastal regions in northern regions become less saline, Vibrio bacteria strains will appear in new areas, the scientists said. Vibrio outbreaks have also appeared in temperate and cold regions in Chile, Peru, Israel, the northwest U.S. Pacific, and northwest Spain, and these can be linked to warming patterns, the scientists said. […]

Bacteria outbreak in Northern Europe due to ocean warming, study says