Is increasing temperature raising childhood viral infection rates?

Turns out, hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common childhood viral infection that mostly affects in warmer summer months because of the increasing temperature and humidity.

According to a recent study, global warming may impact the rates of HFMD, both by prolonging the duration of outbreaks during peak seasons and by increasing the likelihood of HFMD transmission throughout the year.

Dr Sarah Coates, lead author of the study, said, "There is an emerging understanding of the link between our changing climate and the rising incidence of various infectious diseases. Many of these changes are so insidious that they are hard for the average practitioner to detect at the individual level."

With these findings, Coates' team is hoping to raise awareness within the medical community of these large-scale trends and spur appropriate political action given their potential consequences to public health.

The full findings appeared in the journal- International Journal of Dermatology.