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Is El Niño a long-distance corridor for waterborne disease?

Nature Microbiology volume 1, Article number: 16018 (2016) Cite this article

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The apparent emergence of new and devastating Vibrio diseases in Latin America during significant El Niño events is striking. New microbiological, genomic and bioinformatic tools are providing us with evidence that El Niño may represent a long-distance corridor for waterborne diseases into the Americas from Asia.

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Figure 1: El Niño events correlate with water surface temperature rises and emergence of new Vibrio infections in South America.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Biochemistry, The Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath, Bath, Somerset, BA2 7AY, UK

    Jaime Martinez-Urtaza

  2. Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 4301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, 33149, Florida, USA

    Joaquin Trinanes

  3. Laboratory of Systems, Technological Research Institute, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Universitario Sur, Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Spain

    Joaquin Trinanes

  4. Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, 33149, Florida, USA

    Joaquin Trinanes

  5. Division of Microbiology, Molecular Methods and Subtyping Branch, Office of Regulatory Science, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, FDA, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park, 20740-3835, Maryland, USA

    Narjol Gonzalez-Escalona

  6. Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), Weymouth, DT4 8UB, Dorset, UK

    Craig Baker-Austin

Authors
  1. Jaime Martinez-Urtaza
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  2. Joaquin Trinanes
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  3. Narjol Gonzalez-Escalona
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  4. Craig Baker-Austin
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Correspondence to Jaime Martinez-Urtaza.

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Martinez-Urtaza, J., Trinanes, J., Gonzalez-Escalona, N. et al. Is El Niño a long-distance corridor for waterborne disease?. Nat Microbiol 1, 16018 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.18

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