A new editorial published in Animal Diseases places animal diseases at the center of emerging risks from antimicrobial resistance (AMR) exacerbated by climate change. The article argues that warming temperatures, floods, intensive farming, wastewater, and food systems can connect resistant bacteria across animals, environments, and people. Using non-typhoidal Salmonella as a sentinel, the editorial sets out a One Health framework for understanding how climate pressures may weaken ecological barriers that once helped contain AMR.
Antimicrobial resistance 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, while extreme precipitation can disperse antimicrobial resistance genes 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.
The editorial, 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 the Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is 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 in Salmonella.
The editorial's central contribution is a practical risk map, describing 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 heat-related effects on bacteria and weather-driven movement of contaminated water. The companion Lancet Planetary Health study analyzed 488,232 Salmonella genomes from 139 countries across 1940–2023 and found that global average ARG abundance increased by 38%, with climate change associated with a 10% rise. Future modelling suggested that low-emission pathways combined with strengthened antibiotic stewardship could reduce Salmonella ARGs by 24% compared with high-emission scenarios.
The authors said the work calls for a shift from reacting to resistant infections to anticipating where AMR risks may intensify. They said antimicrobial stewardship remains the foundation, but it should be paired with climate data, animal-health monitoring, and environmental surveillance. 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 disease outbreaks. 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. For low- and middle-income countries, the paper 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.
