Global Warming. Wait- don’t run away. This is a whole new take on the problem.

No, I am not going to say (as many an idiotic politician declares) that it is a hoax. Yes, the rise in sea level is real. Ask anyone who lives in Norfolk or the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Ocean front property is often one’s front door nowadays.

And, we also know that the warming effect is making our arid regions even more dry. Because the cloud cover is migrating to locations where the humidity is higher. So, we have more intense rain storms, where the moisture level is higher and desertification expanding elsewhere.  That’s why we are having more and more floods- and more and more famine.

As if those were not enough of a problem, it seems that as our oceans warm up, our fish are having a hard time thriving. I reported how wild salmon are having a hard time maintaining their populations about a year ago.

But, there’s more to these climate change effects! As our water resources rise in temperature, the marine microbe population is shifting- and not in a good way. Drs. L. Vezzulia, C. Pruzzo, and C. Grandea of the University of Genoa (Italy); P. C. Reid, P. Helaouet, and M. Edwards of the Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (UK), M.G. Hofle and I. Brettard of Helmoltz Center for Infection Research (Germany)l and and Rita R. Colwell (U of Maryland) are awaiting the formal publication of their findings in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences. (“Climate influence on Vibrio and associated human diseases during the past half-century in the coastal North Atlantic“)

It seems that Vibrio- infectious to both humans and fish- are growing in population in the North Atlantic (contiguous to both the US and Europe). And,those population growth is not by a little- they’ve doubled or trebled their population levels, which correlates with the rise (about 1.5 C) in ocean temperatures. There are some 100+ Vibrio species that thrive in the slightly salty coastal waters and estuaries of the Atlantic.

And, that also means that means more human infections. Oh- you should know that Vibrio is one of those microbes that causes cholera and one species (the vulnificus variety, also known as flesh-eating bacteria) is also associated with seafood-eating deaths. (There are about 80000 such infections annually in the US.)

The Vibrio levels been increasing over the past 54 years. Moreover, this new report demonstrates that in 8 of the 9 North Atlantic regions the population increase directly correlates with the rise in water temperature. (Newfoundland’s ocean region, where the Atlantic is still around 7 C is the exception.)

By the way, the plankton population diversity has changed, as well. The Vibrio attach themselves to the plankton, which amplifies their ability to move great distances in the oceans. (This also means it is possible that the plankton are the prime responders to the temperature rise; the change in plankton levels would then afford that rise in the Vibrio population.)

I can hear you say already- you just won’t eat fish any more. But, you do know you also can’t swim in those ocean regions either. Because one open cut or wound on your body means you are a prime target for infection. (The flesh eating kind, too!) And, this problem  increases further during heat waves, just when you are “dying” to pop into the ocean for a swim.

Need more proof as to why we need to fix this global warming problem?

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