By Lucy Chubb Researchers found a correlation between weather variability caused by El Ni o, reflected in the charts above, and diarrheal diseases in Lima, Peru. El Ni o is responsible for a substantial increase in the incidence of diarrheal diseases, a recent study suggests. The study, conducted in Peru by researchers from Johns Hopkins University, monitored hospital admissions due to diarrheal diseases during the 1997-98 El Ni o weather cycle and compared these figures to admissions in years when El Ni o was missing in action. During an El Ni o year, the incidence of diarrheal illness was twice the norm.
Diarrheal disease kills three million children every year.
Examples of diarrheal diseases are cholera and malaria. Climatologists now have the means to predict the effects of El Ni o six to nine months in advance of its arrival. Forecasting the onset of diarrheal illness is crucial to preventing it, said study co-author Jonathan Patz. Scientists have long debated the link between climate and illness. The researchers selected Peru as the site for the study because El Ni o exerts a strong influence there.