The impact of climate change on the spread of one of the deadliest epidemics in human history

Weather Arabs - in 1918, swept the world epidemic a deadly result of the flu virus of H1N1 strain, it has called the pandemic name of the Spanish flu (Spanish Flu), which hit the 500 million people (about one - third of the world 's population at the time) and killed more than 50 A million people, and that in four successive waves between February 1918 AD to April 1920 AD, making it one of the deadliest epidemics in human history.

The link between climate and the spread of the epidemic has been made through several studies that showed that the immune system of Spanish flu victims was weakened due to the unusual climatic conditions that prevailed in that period, as the weather continued to be unusually cold and wet for long periods of time during the period of the epidemic, and the effect of that was dramatically. Especially on the forces of the First World War, which were exposed to continuous rains and temperatures below average throughout the war, especially during the second wave of the epidemic.

When accurate climate data and detailed death records were analyzed at Harvard University and the Institute for Climate Change at the University of Maine, it was found that there was a severe climate change that affected Europe in the period between 1914 AD - 1919 AD, with many environmental indicators that directly affected the severity and spread of the epidemic, especially With the significant increase in precipitation that all over Europe witnessed during the second wave of the epidemic, from September to December of 1918.

After analyzing the data, several explanations were proposed for the coincidence between the numbers of deaths, the increase in rainfall, and the decrease in temperatures, including the fact that lower temperatures and increased precipitation provided ideal conditions for the virus to multiply and transmit, while also negatively affecting the immune systems of soldiers and other people. Those exposed to bad weather, as it has been proven that the climate and bad weather are among the factors that increased the possibility of viral infections and pneumonia, which affected a large proportion of the victims of the pandemic.

It has been shown through population accounts and documented records that the climate change that lasted for six years led to a radical change in the weather, due to bringing the cold sea air to Europe, until the cold weather reached the island of Gallipoli in Turkey, where the Australian and New Zealand army corps suffered It resides there at that time of cold and very low temperatures, despite the typical Mediterranean climate prevailing in the area.

It is possible that climate change has also affected the migration of birds that transmit the virus and contaminate water bodies with their droppings, which has caused infection rates to rise to 60% in the fall, and climate change has also been linked to an increase in dust in the atmosphere, which resulted from fighting and constant bombing, as it contributed The presence of dust in the cores in which the water vapor in the atmosphere condenses when clouds form, which contributed to the increase in precipitation.