Asthma, allergies and infectious disease could surge in warming world
A NASA graphic showing February 2012 temperature anomalies.
SUMMIT COUNTY — Infants, children and the elderly will be the first to experience serious climate change-related health problems, a panel of lung and respiratory specialists said in a recent position paper aimed at helping members respond to an expected surge in asthma, allergies, infectious and cardiovascular disease.
The increase is expected as a result of rising temperatures, worsening ozone levels in urban areas, the spread of desertification, and expansions of the ranges of communicable diseases. Specific examples include mold spores that previously only were seen in Central America now being found as far north as Vancouver, British Columbia, promoting increases in allergy and asthma, with climate-change conditions implicated. Infectious diseases common in the Mediterranean region now are being seen as far north as Scandinavia, as that area grows warmer. Read more
Source : summitcountyvoice.com
