A new editorial published in Animal Diseases warns that climate change is reshaping the landscape of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in animal diseases, connecting resistant bacteria across animals, environments, and people through pathways such as warming, floods, intensive farming, and wastewater. The piece, titled "Climate change and AMR in animal diseases: a one health perspective on emerging global risks" (DOI: 10.1186/s44149-026-00255-5), comes from researchers at the Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and is accompanied by a global genomic study of Salmonella published in The Lancet Planetary Health.
Traditionally, AMR control has focused on antimicrobial stewardship and infection control. However, the editorial argues that animal-disease systems are increasingly exposed to climate-driven pressures that transcend single-sector approaches. Rising temperatures can favor bacterial growth and horizontal gene transfer, while extreme precipitation can disperse antimicrobial resistance genes through agricultural runoff, sewage, rivers, and food chains. Zoonotic pathogens such as non-typhoidal Salmonella move naturally across these interfaces, making them sentinel indicators of wider human–animal–environment risks.
The editorial maps a One Health–climate convergence nexus where Salmonella and resistance genes circulate among hospitals, intensive agriculture, sewage systems, watersheds, farms, food products, and retail environments. Climate change intensifies this loop through heat-related physiological effects on bacteria and weather-driven movement of contaminated water. The companion genomic study provides quantitative evidence: analysis of 488,232 Salmonella genomes from 139 countries (1940–2023) revealed a 38% increase in global average antimicrobial resistance gene abundance, with climate change associated with a 10% rise. Future modeling suggests that low-emission pathways combined with strengthened antibiotic stewardship could reduce Salmonella resistance genes by 24% compared with high-emission scenarios.
The authors call for a shift from reacting to resistant infections to anticipating where risks may intensify. They propose climate-informed genomic surveillance, targeted animal-health interventions, and integrated cross-sectoral policies. Veterinary services can use climate signals to identify high-risk periods for outbreaks; public-health agencies can connect genomic data with rainfall, temperature, wastewater, and antimicrobial-use data; and food-safety systems can strengthen monitoring after floods and heat waves. For low- and middle-income countries, the papers highlight the need for affordable sequencing, trained personnel, and fair data-sharing agreements.
The work suggests that climate mitigation, animal health, sanitation, and antibiotic stewardship should be treated as one interconnected investment in global health security, especially where climate vulnerability and AMR burden overlap. The full editorial is available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s44149-026-00255-5.
