
Climate change is turning dehydration into a deadly epidemic - laurex
https://mosaicscience.com/story/climate-change-deadly-epidemic-chronic-kidney-disease/
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olivermarks
This seems to be primarily about the effects of sugar when hydrating in very
hot conditions

'...rehydration with sugary drinks. Frequently, not trusting the quality of
local drinking water, workers drink sodas and soft drinks, and experimental
evidence suggests that doing so can lead to even more kidney damage'.

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pdonis
Shouldn't the headline be "failure to provide clean water is turning
dehydration into a deadly epidemic"?

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qqqwerty
From the article:

"Instead of his usual fare of nephrology and diabetes papers, Johnson began to
pore over global maps of climate and solar radiation. The rise in average
temperatures over the last few years in Central America had been incremental,
but the number of extreme events had gone up disproportionately. “And, by
gosh, the areas that have the highest solar radiation and heatwaves are
overlapping the places right where the epidemics are.”"

You might not agree with what they are saying, but they are clearly arguing
that climate change is a factor in the epidemic.

~~~
pdonis
_> they are clearly arguing that climate change is a factor in the epidemic._

Yes, because they're failing to even ask the question of why there is no clean
water supply in the first place. That's not a climate problem. If it's not OK
now when the temperatures are a degree or so warmer, it wasn't OK before
either.

~~~
qqqwerty
This is what the article says, in regards to water:

"Frequently, not trusting the quality of local drinking water, workers drink
sodas and soft drinks, and experimental evidence suggests that doing so can
lead to even more kidney damage."

I find it hard to believe that someone who has access to soft drinks doesn't
have access to clean water. The way I read the above statement, is that the
workers don't trust the local water (i.e. well water or streams, it's not
clear), so they bring their own hydration, but unfortunately they are bringing
soft drinks instead of bottled water.

So if you want to change the title, the alternate title would be 'Coca-Cola is
turning dehydration into a deadly epidemic". But still, this is not quite
right, because Coca-Cola has been in the global market place for decades, so I
would presume workers drinking soft drinks in these areas is nothing new. But
what is new is climate change, hence the original title.

~~~
pdonis
_> This is what the article says, in regards to water_

Yes, and it doesn't even ask they question _why_ the workers don't trust the
quality of local drinking water. Which, as I said, is not a problem caused by
climate change.

 _> The way I read the above statement, is that the workers don't trust the
local water (i.e. well water or streams, it's not clear), so they bring their
own hydration, but unfortunately they are bringing soft drinks instead of
bottled water._

Which is, again, not a problem caused by climate change.

 _> I would presume workers drinking soft drinks in these areas is nothing
new._

Neither is the kidney disease problem. It's been going on for at least 20
years, according to the article (which says that one of the doctors
interviewed started in 1998 and saw the problem then). It's gotten worse over
time because more people are working under these conditions, because the
population has grown and more food is needed.

~~~
qqqwerty
Meanwhile, climate change deniers are pointing at the cold weather on the east
coast as proof that climate change isn't real.

It is entirely fair to suggest that the increase in heat waves that are likely
caused by climate change may be causing an increase in kidney disease related
deaths. There are certainly other issues at play, and in the grand scheme of
things, this is probably not a difficult problem to solve compared to other
climate related issues, but this issue is interesting precisely because it was
unexpected. We are still struggling to get a good idea of what the impacts of
climate change will be, and this finding helps inform that effort.

~~~
pdonis
_> We are still struggling to get a good idea of what the impacts of climate
change will be_

But this problem isn't even an impact of climate change unless you think that
not having access to clean water, causing kidney disease, was OK 20 years ago,
and only became not OK when the temperature got a bit warmer.

In other words, by blaming it on "climate change", you're letting off the hook
the people who are actually responsible--the governments and agribusinesses
that have been making these workers work in the heat without giving them
reliable access to clean water, thereby causing them to get kidney disease,
for at least 20 years now. The way to fix that is to hold those people
accountable, regardless of what the climate is doing.

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will4274
I believe the study referenced by the article is:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4974898/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4974898/)

~~~
joveian
Also see:

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4120672/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4120672/)

This is the study refereneced about mice developing chronic kidney issues from
delayed hydration (even given the same amount of water overall). No sugary
drinks involved.

Also, since PubMed doesn't have a PDF of the one you mentioned for some
reason, here is a pdf link for that one:

[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ramon_Garcia-
Trabanino/...](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ramon_Garcia-
Trabanino/publication/282787897_Heat_Stress_Nephropathy_From_Exercise-
Induced_Uric_Acid_Crystalluria_A_Perspective_on_Mesoamerican_Nephropathy/links/578dd1ce08ae5c86c9a6ba8f/Heat-
Stress-Nephropathy-From-Exercise-Induced-Uric-Acid-Crystalluria-A-Perspective-
on-Mesoamerican-Nephropathy.pdf)

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choot
I wonder if an app can be built, so that when above normal people are dying in
a place a well funded international team can be dispatched to figure out the
issue as soon as possible.

So that we are able to contain mysterious virus and other such outbreaks.

Why wait till more people lose their life?

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rjsw
How does the app know that you are dead ?

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astrodust
You have to check in every ten minutes or else you're presumed dead. Easy.

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choot
I wonder why isn't there a website where people, it could have been posted
"workers are dying in El"

Then other people on the internet would have suggested theories and some might
even have got more evidence.

Why researchers keep this detective work to themselves? Why not take inputs
from internet?

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monochromatic
We’re at what, one degree warmer than a century ago? I have trouble believing
that’s causing any noticeable effect in terms of this disease.

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unimpressive
Celcius.

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monochromatic
Yes, one degree science.

