tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2016 Jun 14. [Epub ahead of print]
[h=1]Climate Change and Respiratory Infections.[/h] Mirsaeidi M[SUP]1[/SUP], Motahari H[SUP]2[/SUP], Taghizadeh Khamesi M[SUP]3[/SUP], Sharifi A[SUP]4[/SUP], Campos M[SUP]5[/SUP], Schraufnagel DE[SUP]6[/SUP].
[h=3]Author information[/h]
[h=3]Abstract[/h] The rate of global warming has accelerated over the past 50 years. Increasing surface temperature is melting glaciers and raising the sea level. More flooding, droughts, hurricanes, and heat waves are being reported. Accelerated changes in climate are already affecting human health, in part by altering the epidemiology of climate-sensitive pathogens. In particular climate change may alter the incidence and severity of respiratory infections by affecting vectors and host immune responses. Certain respiratory infections, such as avian influenza and coccidioidomycosis, are occurring in locations previously unaffected, apparently because of global warming. Young children and older adults appear to be particularly vulnerable to rapid fluctuations in ambient temperature. For example, an increase in the incidence in childhood pneumonia in Australia has been associated with sharp temperature drops from one day to the next. Extreme weather events, such as heat waves, floods, major storms, drought, and wild fires are also thought to change the incidence or respiratory infections. An outbreak of aspergillosis among Japanese survivors of the 2011 tsunami is one such, well-documented example. Changes in temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, and air pollution influence viral activity and transmission. For example, in early 2000, an outbreak of Hantavirus respiratory disease was linked to a local increase in the rodent population, which in turn, was attributed to a 2- to 3-fold increase in rainfall prior to the outbreak. Climate-sensitive respiratory pathogens present challenges to respiratory health that may be far greater in the foreseeable future.
PMID: 27300144 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
[h=1]Climate Change and Respiratory Infections.[/h] Mirsaeidi M[SUP]1[/SUP], Motahari H[SUP]2[/SUP], Taghizadeh Khamesi M[SUP]3[/SUP], Sharifi A[SUP]4[/SUP], Campos M[SUP]5[/SUP], Schraufnagel DE[SUP]6[/SUP].
[h=3]Author information[/h]
[h=3]Abstract[/h] The rate of global warming has accelerated over the past 50 years. Increasing surface temperature is melting glaciers and raising the sea level. More flooding, droughts, hurricanes, and heat waves are being reported. Accelerated changes in climate are already affecting human health, in part by altering the epidemiology of climate-sensitive pathogens. In particular climate change may alter the incidence and severity of respiratory infections by affecting vectors and host immune responses. Certain respiratory infections, such as avian influenza and coccidioidomycosis, are occurring in locations previously unaffected, apparently because of global warming. Young children and older adults appear to be particularly vulnerable to rapid fluctuations in ambient temperature. For example, an increase in the incidence in childhood pneumonia in Australia has been associated with sharp temperature drops from one day to the next. Extreme weather events, such as heat waves, floods, major storms, drought, and wild fires are also thought to change the incidence or respiratory infections. An outbreak of aspergillosis among Japanese survivors of the 2011 tsunami is one such, well-documented example. Changes in temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, and air pollution influence viral activity and transmission. For example, in early 2000, an outbreak of Hantavirus respiratory disease was linked to a local increase in the rodent population, which in turn, was attributed to a 2- to 3-fold increase in rainfall prior to the outbreak. Climate-sensitive respiratory pathogens present challenges to respiratory health that may be far greater in the foreseeable future.
PMID: 27300144 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]