The impact of climate change on airborne and droplet-borne diseases and hospital response measures
Abstract
Objectives: This review synthesizes quantitative evidence on how climate change modulates airborne and droplet-borne disease transmission and assesses hospital resilience strategies.
Methods: A narrative review of global data (2000-2025) was conducted, focusing on pathogen kinetics and post-disaster hospitalization burdens.
Results: Climate change alters disease dynamics by extending pathogen viability and creating prolonged transmission windows. Flood exposure increases respiratory hospitalization risk by 30% and infectious disease hospitalization risk by 26%, with burdens persisting for 60-90 days. Heat exposure increases COPD risk by 1.47% for every 1 °C above thermal thresholds. Mechanistically, low humidity favors persistent airborne droplet nuclei, whereas high humidity enhances transmission via larger droplets that require close contact. Current hospital infrastructure remains vulnerable to these compound climate-pollution crises.
Conclusion: Conventional acute-phase disaster models are insufficient. Resilience requires a paradigm shift toward "climate-integrated" infection control. Critical strategies include integrating meteorological data into predictive surveillance systems and using ventilation, upper-room UVGI, and portable air cleaning as complementary engineering controls.
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a systematic review, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid.
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