Small increases in temperature, rainfall amount can predict cholera outbreaks, study says

Small increases in temperature and rainfall amount may be able to predict cholera outbreaks in some areas, according to a study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Agence France-Presse reports (5/31).

"After analysing several years of disease and weather data from cholera-endemic areas of Zanzibar, Tanzania, scientists from the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) in Seoul, Korea, found that if a more than one degree Celsius increase in the average monthly minimum temperature and a 200mm increase in monthly rainfall were recorded in a month, a cholera outbreak was imminent in the following month," IRIN writes (5/31). Mohammad Ali, a senior scientist at IVI, said governments may be able to use these environmental indicators "as a predictive tool and an early warning system" to implement early interventions such as vaccinations, according to Reuters (Tan, 5/31).