title: Unusual climatic conditions and infectious diseases: observations made by Hippocrates.
abstract: About 2500 years ago, Hippocrates made noteworthy observations about the influence of climate on public health. He believed that people living in cities with different climate may suffer from different diseases. Hippocrates also observed that abrupt climatic changes or unusual weather conditions affect public health, especially the incidence and severity of various infectious diseases, including gastrointestinal infections, tuberculosis, and central nervous system infections. We believe that Hippocrates' scientific observations are great early historic examples that stress to modern infectious diseases researchers and clinicians the need to study intensively the effect of the occurring global climate changes to infectious diseases in order to help in the prevention of possible epidemics of infections.
authors.affiliation: Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Athens, Greece. matthew.falagas@tufts.edu
authors.forename: Matthew E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Falagas
authors.forename: Ioannis A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Bliziotis
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kosmidis
authors.forename: George K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Daikos
mesh_terms: D002980:Climate; D057231:Climate Change; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000266:history; D005260:Female; D000076145:Greece, Ancient; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008581:Meningitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history; D008685:Meteorological Concepts; D009107:Mumps / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history; D011634:Public Health; D012621:Seasons; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history; D014504:Urban Health