Dawn Mullally, director of air quality and transportation with the American Lung Association in Colorado, says exposure to particulates in smoke, even from distant fires, can impact the upper respiratory system. “People who have asthma or respiratory issues, their symptoms are going to increase,” she points out. ...
BACKGROUND: Climate change is likely to increase the threat of wildfires, and little is known about how wildfires affect health in exposed communities. A better understanding of the impacts of the resulting air pollution has important public health implications for the present day and the future.METHOD: We performed a systematic ...
Using technology that has diagnosed problems in the Amazon rain forest and the jungles of Borneo, researchers are learning that California’s unprecedented tree die-off is moving well beyond its origins in the southern Sierra Nevada and along parts of the southern coast. It’s creeping farther north, and to higher elevations, not ...
Wildfires expose children to a number of environmental hazards, e.g., fire, smoke, psychological stress, and the byproducts of combustion of wood, plastics, and other chemicals released from burning structures and furnishings. During the acute phase of widlfire activity, the major hazards to children are fire and smoke. Acute stress ...
Each year, wildfires burn as many as 7 million acres of federal, state, tribal and private land. Smoke from these fires, particularly the fine particles released during combustion, can cause serious health problems. To protect the public from this threat, air pollution control, public health, and other federal, state and local ...
In healthy people, symptoms of smoke exposure usually include irritation of eyes, nose and throat or breathing discomfort. More severe symptoms may include chest tightness, wheezing, shortness of breath, and coughing. Prolonged exposure to smoke of all kinds is harmful to people of all ages. Like cigarette smoke, smoke from fires can ...
” Last December, the Thomas Fire tore through 280,000 acres in southern California, reducing neighborhoods to ash and triggerring deadly mudslides. Across the nation, wildfires burned more than nine million acres in 2017 – one of the worst fire seasons in decades. And as bad as wildfires are now, they are expected to get ...
The fires that ripped through our community beginning Oct. 8 changed everything. As was seen in Puerto Rico, Houston, and New Orleans, the visceral impact of climate change has hit home. The medical community must now begin to grapple with the unfolding impact of global warming on human health.