@article{606,
  author = {Daisy Yan and Venkatesh Prajna and Prajna Lalitha and Wiwan Sansanayudh and Vannarut Satitpitakul and Wipada Laovirojjanakul and Meenu Chaudhary and Mamadou Bountogo and Ali Sie and Boubacar Coulibaly and Abdou Amza and Beido Nassirou and Ibrahim Almou and Huy Tran and Yen Tran and Edmund Tsui and Tania Onclinx and Ruti Sella and Lee Goren and Esmeralda McClean and Vivien Tham and Cindi Chen and Kevin Ruder and Lina Zhong and YuHeng Liu and Danny Yu and Thomas Abraham and Elodie Lebas and Benjamin Arnold and Stephen McLeod and Michael Deiner and Travis Porco and Gerami Seitzman and Thomas Lietman and Jessica Shantha and Armin Hinterwirth and Thuy Doan},
  title = {Association of weather variables with pathogens contributing to conjunctivitis worldwide.},
  abstract = {<p><b>PURPOSE: </b>To identify weather variables associated with pathogens contributing to infectious conjunctivitis globally.</p>

<p><b>METHODS: </b>Sample collection and pathogen identification from patients with acute infectious conjunctivitis was performed from 2017 to 2023. We linked pathogens identified from 13 sites across 8 countries with publicly available weather data by geographic coordinates. Mixed effects logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the associations between temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity exposures, and the prevalence of infection types (RNA virus, DNA virus, bacteria, and fungus).</p>

<p><b>RESULTS: </b>498 cases from the United States, India, Nepal, Thailand, Burkina Faso, Niger, Vietnam, and Israel were included in the analysis. 8-day average precipitation (mm) was associated with increased odds of RNA virus infection (odds ratio (OR)=1.47, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.12 to 1.93, P=0.01) and decreased odds of DNA infection (OR=0.62, 95% CI: 0.46 to 0.82, P&lt;0.001). Relative humidity (%) was associated with increased odds of RNA virus infections (OR=2.64, 95% CI: 1.51 to 4.61, P&lt;0.001), and fungal infections (OR=2.35, 95% CI: 1.19 to 4.66, P=0.01), but decreased odds of DNA virus (OR=0.58, 95%CI: 0.37 to 0.90, P=0.02) and bacterial infections (OR=0.42, 95% CI: 0.25 to 0.71, P&lt;0.001). Temperature (°C) was not associated with ocular infections for any pathogen type.</p>

<p><b>CONCLUSIONS: </b>This study suggests that weather factors affect pathogens differently. Particularly, humidity and precipitation were predictors for pathogens contributing to conjunctivitis worldwide. Additional work is needed to clarify the effects of shifts in weather and environmental factors on ocular infectious diseases.</p>
},
  year = {2024},
  journal = {Clin Infect Dis},
  month = {2024 Aug 19},
  issn = {1537-6591},
  doi = {10.1093/cid/ciae417},
  language = {eng},
}