Obeagu Emmanuel Ifeanyi, Bolo Basuti
Department of Biomedical and Laboratory Science, Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe.
Department of Agricultural Science, Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe.
Medicine (Baltimore). 2025 Jun 6;104(23):e42718. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000042718.
Climate change is increasingly disrupting medical laboratory operations worldwide, affecting diagnostic accuracy, infrastructure integrity, and supply chain stability. Hurricane Maria in 2017 devastated Puerto Rico, a major hub for medical supply manufacturing, leading to critical shortages of blood bags and reagents in U.S. hospitals. Rising global temperatures have also challenged the stability of temperature-sensitive reagents and biological samples, with studies indicating that a mere 2°C increase in ambient temperature can significantly reduce enzyme activity in diagnostic assays. Laboratories, particularly in low-resource settings, are struggling to maintain optimal storage conditions, raising concerns about the reliability of test results in disease diagnosis and monitoring. Extreme weather events and shifting disease patterns further compound these challenges. Flooding in South Asia has repeatedly disrupted microbiology laboratories, causing waterborne pathogen contamination and delays in infectious disease testing. In Sub-Saharan Africa, rising temperatures have expanded the range of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, increasing the demand for diagnostic services beyond the capacity of many laboratories. Supply chain disruptions due to climate-related disasters have led to prolonged shortages of essential testing materials, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic when heatwaves affected the production and transportation of medical reagents. These disruptions highlight the urgent need for climate-adaptive strategies to ensure laboratory resilience and continuity in healthcare services. To mitigate these impacts, laboratories must adopt sustainable infrastructure and operational practices. Key recommendations include transitioning to solar-powered refrigeration to prevent sample degradation during power outages, investing in climate-resilient laboratory buildings, and enhancing digital diagnostic capabilities to reduce reliance on physical sample transportation.
气候变化正日益扰乱全球医学实验室的运作，影响诊断准确性、基础设施完整性和供应链稳定性。2017年的玛丽亚飓风摧毁了波多黎各，这是医疗用品制造的一个主要中心，导致美国医院血袋和试剂严重短缺。全球气温上升也对温度敏感试剂和生物样本的稳定性构成挑战，研究表明，环境温度仅升高2°C就能显著降低诊断检测中的酶活性。实验室，尤其是资源匮乏地区的实验室，正努力维持最佳储存条件，这引发了人们对疾病诊断和监测中检测结果可靠性的担忧。极端天气事件和不断变化的疾病模式进一步加剧了这些挑战。南亚的洪水多次扰乱微生物实验室，导致水传播病原体污染和传染病检测延误。在撒哈拉以南非洲，气温上升扩大了携带疟疾蚊子的活动范围，增加了对诊断服务的需求，超出了许多实验室的能力。与气候相关的灾害导致的供应链中断致使基本检测材料长期短缺，就像在新冠疫情期间，热浪影响了医疗试剂的生产和运输时所看到的那样。这些干扰凸显了迫切需要采取适应气候的战略，以确保实验室的恢复力和医疗服务的连续性。为减轻这些影响，实验室必须采用可持续的基础设施和运营做法。主要建议包括转向太阳能制冷以防止停电期间样本降解、投资建设抗气候实验室建筑以及增强数字诊断能力以减少对实物样本运输的依赖。
