Climate influence on Vibrio and associated human diseases during the past half-century in the coastal North Atlantic

Abstract

Climate change is having a dramatic impact on marine animal and plant communities but little is known of its influence on marine prokaryotes, which represent the largest living biomass in the world oceans and play a fundamental role in maintaining life on our planet. In this study, for the first time to our knowledge, experimental evidence is provided on the link between multidecadal climatic variability in the temperate North Atlantic and the presence and spread of an important group of marine prokaryotes, the vibrios, which are responsible for several infections in both humans and animals. Using archived formalin-preserved plankton samples collected by the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey over the past half-century (1958–2011), we assessed retrospectively the relative abundance of vibrios, including human pathogens, in nine areas of the North Atlantic and North Sea and showed correlation with climate and plankton changes. Generalized additive models revealed that long-term increase in Vibrio abundance is promoted by increasing sea surface temperatures (up to ∼1.5 °C over the past 54 y) and is positively correlated with the Northern Hemisphere Temperature (NHT) and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) climatic indices (P < 0.001). Such increases are associated with an unprecedented occurrence of environmentally acquired Vibrio infections in the human population of Northern Europe and the Atlantic coast of the United States in recent years.

Genomic Variation and Evolution ofVibrio parahaemolyticusST36 over the Course of a Transcontinental Epidemic Expansion

“…The number of reported cases of V. parahaemolyticus infection has increased steadily over the previous 2 decades as a result of expansion on a global scale (10,25). In addition to the environmental factors driving this expansion, the emergence and transcontinental dissemination of some particular genetic variants of V. parahaemolyti- cus are contributing to this process (15,17,(26)(27)(28).…”

Epidemic Dynamics ofVibrio parahaemolyticusIllness in a Hotspot of Disease Emergence, Galicia, Spain

“…Because seawater temperature has been identified as a critical factor governing the emergence of Vibrio diseases ( 1 – 3 ), we conducted an analysis of historical records of SST in the region. Results from these analyses revealed a significant trend of increased SST in the area, which followed a stepwise and incremental trend, rather than the expected linear change.…”

“…Infections have undergone a global expansion over the last 2 decades; cases have suddenly emerged in areas considered environmentally adverse for these pathogens ( 1 – 3 ). The causes of this dynamic expansion and emergence in non–disease-endemic areas have remained elusive.…”

Necrotizing wound infection from a tilapia fish injury

“…Reports of V. vulnificus have increased worldwide and have been linked to the expanded habitat made possible by global warming. 1 The organism embeds itself into the tissues of filter-feeding mollusks, which act as vectors to humans. 2 It was first described in 1976 after being isolated from the stool, wounds and blood of patients with acute illness.…”