Effect of the Changing Climate and Urban Ecology on Spreading of Infectious Diseases Including SARS‐CoV‐2

Globalisation, industrialisation, and ease of international travel are making a huge impact on urban ecology. It is also influencing the climate, exaggerated by increased pollution, global temperature, and greenhouse gasses. All these factors together play a pivotal role in the increased emergence of infectious human diseases like fungal, bacterial, and viral. Many microorganisms are commensal and co‐exist as microflora of healthy individuals. However, when the immune system is compromised due to disruption of mucosal barriers or presence of other environmental factors including increased air pollution, these microorganisms get an opportunity to invade and cause infections. In a similar way, the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic, mediated by SARS‐CoV‐2, has also led to an increase in a number of nosocomial infections and secondary infections or superinfections like bacterial, fungal, and viral. Several studies have suggested that adaptation to higher temperatures is one of the key contributors to the emergence of many fungus like Candida auris and mucormycetes . Even bacteria like Acinetobacter baumannii, Mycobacterium tuberculosis , etc. or viral infections mediated by Ebola, H1N1, Encephalitis, and SARS‐CoV‐2 become more virulent with change in climate and urban ecology. Lifestyle change including uncontrolled intake of animal foods which possibly resulted in the zoonotic transfer of SARS‐CoV‐2 to humans, an increase in sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS due to uncontrolled lifestyles in a modern urban society are few other examples. Although these are the results of humans’ need and greed, it is not too late to take actions towards sustainable developments and adopting preventive plans to save the future world. This chapter mainly attempts to understand how such changes in environmental factors, altered climate, and urban ecology can lead to emergence of several infectious diseases, followed by a discussion of preventive measures to keep a steady but sustainable global development of human lives.