Climate Change May Speed Asthma Spread
Climate Change May Speed Asthma Spread – In recent decades, diagnoses of asthma have risen dramatically.
Patients with asthma experience a swelling and narrowing of their airways and an increase in mucus, which makes breathing difficult and causes coughing, wheezing, and tightness or pain in the chest. Severe asthma can interfere with daily activities of patients, and can be life-threatening. There is no cure for asthma, but symptoms can be managed, for instance, with a quick-relief inhaler, such as albuterol.
According to CDC reports, between 2001 and 2009, the number of patients diagnosed with asthma rose by 4.3 million. It is a leading cause of school absences across the country. Certain environmental conditions can worsen asthma, such as cold and dry air, or air that is polluted with chemical fumes, gases or dust, and allergens, such as pet dander, cockroaches or pollen. Climate change may also exacerbate the problem.
According to Alan Goldsobel, an allergist with the Allergy and Asthma Associates of Northern California, “Plants are starting their pollination season earlier, and it lasts longer.”
Climate change affects the duration of seasons and contributes to more erratic weather patterns, and those changes are causing plants to not only release pollen earlier and longer, but more of it.
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