A recent study in the American Journal of Gastroenterology has linked inflammatory bowel disease flare-ups and bouts of infectious gastroenteritis to heat waves.
The study retrospectively looked at 738 patients with IBD and 786 patients with IG who were admitted to a Swiss hospital from 2001 to 2005. Researchers reported that hospital's admissions for IBD increased by 4 to 6 percent each day during a heat wave. Extreme heat also increased the risk of IG by 4 to 7 percent each day.
Possible causes for this correlation are the physical stress caused by heat waves or the changes in bacteria growth.
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