As warming temperatures bring more dust storms and fires, longer pollen seasons and worsening displacement, respiratory ailments are on the rise around the world, experts say
LONDON (AlertNet) - The impacts of climate change won’t only be apparent on the planet itself, but on human health as well, according to a group of doctors who warn that worldwide increases in climate change-related asthma, allergies and a range of other health problems are on the way.
In a new position paper, a 13-member committee from the American Thoracic Society, which represents respiratory physicians, claims that rising global temperatures, spreading desertification and other climate-related problems will bring boosts around the world in the incidence of a range of illnesses, including infectious diseases.
The paper, written by doctors from Europe, Asia, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, traces the ongoing expansion and intensification of diseases around the world and looks at what they may imply as climate impacts strengthen.
“There are certain diseases caused by certain types of parasites or organisms whose range has expanded and that has been associated with increases in temperature,” said Dr. Kent Pinkerton, a co-author of the paper, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California-Davis School of Medicine, and director of the university’s Center for Health and the Environment.
MOLD SPORES MOVING NORTH
For example, asthma-inducing mold spores previously only found in Central America now have been found as far north as Canada.
“Infectious diseases common in the Mediterranean region now are being seen as far north as Scandinavia, as that area grows warmer," Pinkerton said. “Also, the eastern United States has experienced longer, intense pollen seasons.”
Even worsening wildfires and growing desertification, associated with dryer conditions, are adding to the disease problem, said Pinkerton, whose research looks in part at how heat affects air quality.
Fires produce smoke and particulate matter, both respiratory irritants, and desertification boosts the amount of particles blown up by dust storms, he said.
But the most serious and direct respiratory health threat from climate change may be heat itself, the doctors said.
Higher surface temperatures, especially in developed urban areas, will promote the formation of greater amounts of ground-level ozone, exposure to which has been linked to increased cases of asthma, lung cancer and acute lower-respiratory infections, the doctors said.
Some of the health effects of climate change will be direct, such as longer pollen seasons and better survival of bacteria, but others will be indirect, Pinkerton said.
DISPLACEMENT WORRIES
As climate change brings more extreme weather, it may also displace larger numbers of people as a result of disasters on the scale of the Japanese and Indonesia tsunamis and Hurricane Katrina in the United States.
“Simply the stress of displacement, as well as the close proximity of huge numbers of displaced people, enhances the chance of susceptibility of infectious diseases,” said Pinkerton.
Infants, young children, the elderly and people with existing respiratory illnesses will be particularly at risk, he said.
In their paper, the doctors urge that public health measures should be developed to support these vulnerable populations during climate-change related events.
The position paper was released in part to help respiratory doctors understand know how to respond to climate change-related changes in their patients and within their communities, and urge them to add their voices to calls for international cooperation to respond to the existing and anticipated negative health effects of global warming.
"Our greatest concern is infants, children, the elderly and other sensitive populations," he said. "They will be the first to experience serious climate change-related health problems."
Samuel Nota is an AlertNet Climate intern.
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