Climate Change Fuels Antimicrobial Resistance via Animal Diseases

As climate change reshapes the conditions in which pathogens survive and move, antimicrobial resistance is no longer only a question of antibiotic use. A new editorial places animal diseases at the center of this emerging risk, arguing that warming, floods, intensive farming, wastewater, and food systems can connect resistant bacteria across animals, environments, and people. Using non-typhoidal Salmonella as a sentinel, the article sets out a One Health framework for understanding how climate pressures may weaken ecological barriers that once helped contain antimicrobial resistance. A companion global genomic study of Salmonella adds quantitative evidence, showing why climate-informed surveillance is becoming urgent for farms, ecosystems, and public health.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has traditionally been addressed through antimicrobial stewardship, infection control, and better prescribing. These measures remain essential, but animal-disease systems are increasingly exposed to pressures that do not fit within a single sector. Rising temperatures can favor bacterial growth and horizontal gene transfer (HGT), while extreme precipitation can disperse antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) through agricultural runoff, sewage, rivers, and food chains. Zoonotic pathogens such as Salmonella move naturally across these interfaces, making them useful indicators of wider human–animal–environment risks. Based on these challenges, in-depth research is needed into climate-driven AMR transmission in animal diseases under a One Health framework.

Published (DOI: 10.1186/s44149-026-00255-5) on June 29, 2026, in Animal Diseases, the editorial "Climate change and AMR in animal diseases: a one health perspective on emerging global risks" comes from the Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Rather than presenting climate change and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as parallel crises, the editorial connects them through animal disease ecology and the One Health framework. It is further supported by a related research article published in The Lancet Planetary Health in 2026, which examined how climate change is associated with the global spread of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in Salmonella.

The editorial's central contribution is a practical risk map. It describes a One Health–climate convergence nexus in which non-typhoidal Salmonella and ARGs circulate among hospitals, intensive agriculture, sewage treatment systems, watersheds, farms, food products, and retail environments. Climate change can intensify this loop through two immediate routes: heat-related physiological effects on bacteria and weather-driven movement of contaminated water. The article further raises the possibility that climate stress may influence pathogen adaptation in production systems, although it treats this as a hypothesis that has been extensive documented in his group (see additional references below) requiring broader validation. The companion Lancet Planetary Health study supplies the empirical backbone for this warning. Researchers analyzed 488,232 Salmonella genomes from 139 countries or regions across 1940–2023 and found that global average ARG abundance in Salmonella increased by 38%. Climate change was associated with a 10% rise increase in ARG abundance, with increases in 82 of 100 countries analyzed. Future modelling suggested that low-emission pathways, when combined with strengthened antibiotic stewardship, could reduce Salmonella ARGs by 24% compared with high-emission scenarios. In the editorial, these findings support a three-part response: climate-informed genomic surveillance, targeted animal-health interventions, and integrated cross-sectoral policies that can move AMR control from isolated programs to coordinated prevention across climate, livestock, environment, and health systems.

The authors said the work calls for a shift from reacting to resistant AMR-associated infections to anticipating where resistance AMR risks may intensify. They said antimicrobial stewardship remains the foundation of AMR control, but it should be paired with climate data, animal-health monitoring, and environmental surveillance. In their view, One Health should guide practical decisions—from where genomes are sequenced to how farms, wastewater systems, and food-safety programs are prepared for climate extremes. The goal is to protect antimicrobial effectiveness before climate pressures widen existing gaps.

The editorial-led framework offers clear entry points for policy and practice. Veterinary services can use climate signals to identify high-risk periods for animal-disease outbreaks and resistant AMR-associated infections. Public-health agencies can connect genomic surveillance with rainfall, temperature, wastewater, livestock, and antimicrobial-use data. Food-safety systems can strengthen monitoring after floods, heat waves, and other disruptions that may mobilize resistant bacteria. For low- and middle-income countries, the papers also highlights the need for affordable sequencing, trained personnel, and fair data-sharing agreements. Most importantly, the work suggests that climate mitigation, animal health, sanitation, and antibiotic stewardship should be treated as one interconnected investment in global health security, especially in regions where climate vulnerability and AMR burden overlap.