Rare 'Thunderstorm Asthma'

angelburst29

The Living Force
Six are now dead from a rare "thunderstorm asthma" outbreak in Melbourne, Australia.

Rare 'Thunderstorm Asthma' Kills Six in Australia
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201611271047901813-thunderstorm-asthma-kills-six-melbourne/

Nov. 27, 2016 - Five more remain in intensive care units, with three in critical condition, and another 12 are in hospitals for less severe respiratory problems.

A thunderstorm in the city November 21 started the asthma outbreak. After a very hot, high pollen day, the sudden high winds and heavy rain soaked ryegrass pollen grains, causing them to explode and send tiny pollen particles deep into the lungs of city residents. Pollen grains are usually too small to penetrate into the lungs, and instead lodge in the nose, causing much milder hayfever. For people who are sensitive to the pollen, inhaling tiny grains into the lungs can cause a severe respiratory reaction, Christine Jenkins, a clinical professor at the George Institute, explained to the Guardian.

More than 8,500 people in the city of 4.5 million sought treatment in hospitals, overwhelming the city's medial services. Health Minister of the state of Victoria Jill Hennessy said the surge in demand for medical services "was like having 150 bombs going off right across a particular part of metropolitan Melbourne," Deutsche Welle reported.

Around one in 10 people in Australia have asthma, according to Asthma Australia. About a third of people who sought medical treatment for asthma attacks after the storm had never experienced asthma before.

Thunderstorm asthma has been reported around the world since the 1980s. The world's first recorded thunderstorm asthma incident was in Melbourne in 1987, AP reports. The last major event in Melbourne was in November 2010.

Six people died from asthma complications allegedly linked to a rare weather phenomenon, as a thunderstorm coincided with a high pollen count in Australia, officials said, with up to 8,500 people being affected by ‘thunderstorm asthma'.

6 Dead, 8,500 Hospitalized as Rare Weather Affects Australians
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950907001129

A thunderstorm in Melbourne, the second most populous city in Australia, has been causing widespread respiratory issues among asthma and hay fever sufferers since Monday, RT reported.

The phenomenon dubbed ‘thunderstorm asthma’ takes place when rye grass pollen absorbs moisture, breaks into small pieces and penetrates deep into people’s airways, affecting their health.

“There have now been six deaths that may have occurred as a result of conditions relating to the thunderstorm asthma events,” the health department spokesman of the State of Victoria said on Sunday.

According to the spokesman, “five patients are continuing to receive specialist ICU (intensive care unit) care in hospitals in Melbourne, with three still in a critical condition.”

“This was a tragic and unforeseen event and hospitals are continuing to treat 12 people for a variety of respiratory and other related conditions, in addition to those in ICU care,” the spokesman said.

In all, 8,500 patients were treated on Monday and Tuesday in Melbourne, a city of 4.5 million residents, according to officials.

The demand for ambulances was so high that “it was like having 150 bombs going off right across a particular part of metropolitan Melbourne,” State of Victoria Health Minister Jill Hennessy said on Thursday.
 
A similar event has been reported in Kuwait, where reports claim that thunderstorm activity has triggered a mass reaction. Report of 884 people taken to the hospital with severe asthma and 5 reported deaths. (Is it possible, these thunderstorms are creating conditions, whereby high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide and/or methane are being pulled down from the atmosphere, in a down draft and affecting the population below? )

Via Hamrin News (a Kurdish-oriented news outlet published from Germany): Google translate

(Health) Kuwait: 5 deaths Balummen past emergencies for patients with asthma suffer from suffocation, difficulty breathing
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fhamrinnews.net%2Fkuwait-news%2F351659&edit-text=

Friday, December 2, 2016 - Undersecretary of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health, Dr. Khalid Al-Sahlawi

Kuwait - 1-12 (KUNA) - Undersecretary of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health, Dr. Khalid Al-Sahlawi said that the country's hospitals and five deaths were recorded during the past two days due to emergency cases of patients with asthma were suffering from suffocation and breathing difficulties.

He Sahlawi in a press statement Friday that the 844 emergency entered into the country's hospitals during the past two days, including five cases
died, three of which in Mubarak Hospital and two at the Amiri Hospital while entered the 26 cases in intensive care and 45 cases to the wings with out the rest of the cases after receiving the necessary treatment.

He explained that the sections of accidents in hospitals declared a state of emergency and prepare to receive critical situations and make the necessary first aid and called for emergency contact numbers in case of any emergency through the 112 ambulance and 151 medical consultations.

He called Sahlawi patients with asthma and allergies to be careful and eat regularly their medications and heating their bodies and review doctors if any symptoms praising the efforts of all the doctors, technicians and nursing staff and administrative and medical emergencies in different sections private internal medicine and intensive care and accidents for their patient care and dedication to work.

He stated that the ministry has taken all preparations climatic conditions experienced by the wave of Kuwait Thunderstorm winds accompanied by active with speeds of 50 km per hour in some areas, calling on citizens and residents to exercise extreme caution due to the current state of the weather.

For its part, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health at the ministry said Magda Qattan in a similar statement that the seasonal flu rates in the country are within the normal rates certain to take the ministry all measures and actions to face any emergency as well as an educational and awareness programs to prevent them.

For its part denied the metropolitan area health director Dr. Fatima Alasumi in a similar statement the truth of what has been handled through the means of social communication of warnings about the closure of ground floor and the first of the Amiri Hospital because of a viral infection.

She said that what is traded is totally indicating that the current season is the seasonal flu season has nothing to do what is traded in the means of social communication.

For his part, the Amiri Hospital director Dr. Ali Alalnda to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that are traded through the means of social communication on the pandemic flu (H1N1) is not baseless, noting that what is happening does not come out for part of the seasonal flu confined to cases of asthma and respiratory diseases seasonal increase in this quarter of each year.

He denied Alalnda record any cases of virus (H1N1) indicating that the entry of the rainy season and the large number of persons with asthma and respiratory allergies make the hospital crowded with auditors to Htejes and treatment.

He said that Amiri Hospital has taken all preventive and therapeutic procedures in anticipation of such circumstances that do not depart from the seasonal flu, cases of asthma and allergies. (Predatory) z n s / p b d

Participation

Thank you for listening news about the (health) Kuwait: 5 deaths Balummen past emergencies for patients with asthma suffer from suffocation and difficulty breathing in the Hamrin News Please note that the content of this story has been written by the editors of Kuna and does not reflect at all from the standpoint of Hamrin News, but has been completely transferred as it is, you can read the news from the main source of his following link KUNA regards.
 
This latest case is now up on SOTT:

https://www.sott.net/article/335783-Thunderstorm-asthma-5-people-die-in-Kuwait-following-storm

(Is it possible, these thunderstorms are creating conditions, whereby high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide and/or methane are being pulled down from the atmosphere, in a down draft and affecting the population below? )

I think that scenario is possible. But perhaps rather than gases in these cases, could the increasingly electrically charged atmosphere be breaking down various pollens or elements into smaller, more harmful particles which are being carried Earth-bound in these storms?

According to the health website, mercola, it has also been suggested that storms' electrical charge makes tiny pollen and mold particles stickier, increasing the likelihood that they will cause trouble in the lungs once inhaled. As written in Current Allergy and Asthma Reports:

"The weather system of a mature thunderstorm likely entrains grass pollen into the cloud base, where pollen rupture would be enhanced, then transports the respirable-sized fragments of pollen debris to ground level where outflows distribute them ahead of the rain.

The conditions occurring at the onset of a thunderstorm might expose susceptible people to a rapid increase in concentrations of pollen allergens in the air that can readily deposit in the lower airways and initiate asthmatic reactions."

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/08/20/thunderstorm-asthma.aspx

Whatever the exact cause of these outbreaks, these two deadly events in Kuwait and Australia occurred less than two weeks apart. From wikipedia we have a list of significant events for this phenomenon to give us some context:

Significant events

6 July 1983–7 July 1983: Birmingham, England
8 November 1987: Melbourne, Australia
29 November 1989–30 November 1989: Melbourne, Australia
24 July 1994–25 July 1994: London, England
30 October 1997: Wagga Wagga, Australia
4 June 2004: Naples, Italy
25 November 2010: Melbourne, Australia
2 November 2013: Ahvaz, Iran
21 November 2016: Melbourne, Australia
1 December 2016: Kuwait

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderstorm_asthma
 
Anam Cara said:
This latest case is now up on SOTT:

https://www.sott.net/article/335783-Thunderstorm-asthma-5-people-die-in-Kuwait-following-storm

(Is it possible, these thunderstorms are creating conditions, whereby high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide and/or methane are being pulled down from the atmosphere, in a down draft and affecting the population below? )

I think that scenario is possible. But perhaps rather than gases in these cases, could the increasingly electrically charged atmosphere be breaking down various pollens or elements into smaller, more harmful particles which are being carried Earth-bound in these storms?

[...]

Whatever the exact cause of these outbreaks, these two deadly events in Kuwait and Australia occurred less than two weeks apart. From wikipedia we have a list of significant events for this phenomenon to give us some context:

Significant events

6 July 1983–7 July 1983: Birmingham, England
8 November 1987: Melbourne, Australia
29 November 1989–30 November 1989: Melbourne, Australia
24 July 1994–25 July 1994: London, England
30 October 1997: Wagga Wagga, Australia
4 June 2004: Naples, Italy
25 November 2010: Melbourne, Australia
2 November 2013: Ahvaz, Iran
21 November 2016: Melbourne, Australia
1 December 2016: Kuwait

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderstorm_asthma

So, going over the Significant events and noting Month (Season) and their respective locations, each event occurred near a large body of water.
It does not prove that hydrogen sulfide and/or methane might be involved in the events but may be a contributing factor in atmospheric conditions such as a humidity level? It could affect Pollen counts? More information is needed to understand why and how these events are produced?

6 July 1983–7 July 1983: Birmingham, England - (July Summer Season - located near the Atlantic Ocean )
8 November 1987: Melbourne, Australia - (Nov. end of Spring Season - located near the Yarra River )
29 November 1989–30 November 1989: Melbourne, Australia - (Nov. end of Spring Season - located near the Yarra River )
24 July 1994–25 July 1994: London, England - (July Summer Season - located near the Atlantic Ocean )
30 October 1997: Wagga Wagga, Australia - (Oct. during Spring Season - straddles the Murrumbidgee River )
4 June 2004: Naples, Italy - (June start of Summer - located near the Mediterranean Sea )
25 November 2010: Melbourne, Australia - (Nov. end of Spring Season - located near the Yarra River )
2 November 2013: Ahvaz, Iran - (Nov. start of Winter Season - located near the Karun river )
21 November 2016: Melbourne, Australia - (Nov. end of Spring Season - located near the Yarra River )
1 December 2016: Kuwait - (Dec. Winter Season - located at the tip of the Persian Gulf )

References:
2 November 2013: Ahvaz, Iran

Sunday, 20 October 2013 - Iranian city of Ahwaz is the world’s most polluted city
http://ncr-iran.org/en/news/society/14985-iranian-city-of-ahwaz-is-the-world-s-most-polluted-city

The Iranian city of Ahwaz is the most polluted city in the world, based on data compiled by the World Health Organization.

The list of the most polluted cities in the world published by the business news website Quartz includes names of four cities in Iran": Ahwaz, Kermanshah, Sanandaj, and Yasouj. The city of Ahwaz, in southwestern Iran with population of more than three million is the capital of Khuzestan Province.

[...] On Wednesday, residents of the southern Iranian city of Ahvaz formed a human chain to protest against the regime's plans to divert water from the Karun river to central Iran. The protesters said this is a cause of illness and air pollution.

https://weatherspark.com/averages/32810/Tehran-Iran

The warm season lasts from May 27 to September 20 with an average daily high temperature above 87°F. The hottest day of the year is July 9, with an average high of 98°F and low of 77°F.

The cold season lasts from November 25 to February 28 with an average daily high temperature below 56°F. The coldest day of the year is January 19, with an average low of 33°F and high of 46°F.

‘Ahwaz Waters’ a Ticking Bomb to Detonate within Iranian Regime Walls
http://english.aawsat.com/2016/07/article55354977/ahwaz-waters-ticking-bomb-detonate-within-iranian-regime-walls

July 23, 2016 - Iranian authorities are determined to move in with the project redirecting Ahwaz’s rivers springing from northern areas of the Zagros Mountains into central Iran.

Rainfall in Iran is highly seasonal, with a rainy season between October and March, leaving the land parched for the remainder of the year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Iran

8 November 1987: Melbourne, Australia
29 November 1989–30 November 1989: Melbourne, Australia
30 October 1997: Wagga Wagga, Australia
25 November 2010: Melbourne, Australia
21 November 2016: Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia http://www.australia.com/en/facts/weather/melbourne-weather.html
Summer (December – February), Autumn (March – May), Winter (June – August)

Spring (September – November)
During spring average temperatures range from 9.6 - 19.6°C (49.3 - 67.3°F). The season is known as the most variable of the year, when weather can quickly change from calm and sunny to cold and windy. Pack your umbrella – October is the wettest month with roughly 10 days of rainfall.

In summer the average sea temperature in Melbourne is 17.4 - 18.8°C (63.3 - 65.8°F).

The Yarra River flows west for more than 240 km (148 miles) from its source in the Yarra Ranges, through rural and suburban Melbourne to the city center and Docklands ...

30 October 1997: Wagga Wagga, Australia
Wagga Wagga is at the eastern end of the Riverina region where the slopes of the Great Dividing Range flatten and form the Riverina plain. The city straddles the Murrumbidgee River, one of the great rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin, and the city centre is on the southern bank, protected by a levee from potential flooding.

Wagga Wagga is upstream from the Riverina plain in the mid-catchment range of the Murrumbidgee River in an alluvial valley confined by low bedrock hills.[9] Much of Wagga Wagga is on heavy clay soils in a large drainage basin with a small catchment discharge point. Groundwater therefore cannot leave easily.

6 July 1983–7 July 1983: Birmingham, England
24 July 1994–25 July 1994: London, England

Spring is the period from March to May. Summer lasts from June to August and is the warmest and usually the sunniest season. Rainfall totals can have a wide local variation due to localized thunderstorms. These thunderstorms mainly occur in southern, eastern, and central England and are less frequent and severe in the north and west.[18] North Atlantic depressions are not as severe in summer but increase both in severity and frequency towards the end of the season. Summer can see high pressure systems from the Azores High.

One of the greatest influences on the climate of the UK is the Atlantic Ocean and especially the North Atlantic Current, which brings warm waters from the Gulf of Mexico to the waters around the country by means of thermohaline circulation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_the_United_Kingdom


4 June 2004: Naples, Italy

Naples is one of the largest metropolises on the Mediterranean Sea. The warm season lasts from June 16 to September 11 with an average daily high temperature above 81°F. The hottest day of the year is August 6, with an average high of 87°F and low of 69°F.

The cold season lasts from November 21 to March 23 with an average daily high temperature below 61°F. The coldest day of the year is January 12, with an average low of 41°F and high of 55°F. https://weatherspark.com/averages/32302/Naples-Campania-Italy

Weather in Naples is pleasant throughout the year. The city boasts four distinct seasons which include spring (March to May), summer (June to September), autumn (October and November) and winter (December to February).

During summer, from June till September, Naples remains blisteringly hot and humid with the average high of 31 ºC while the minimum hardly falls 18 ºC. July and August are the hottest month of the year when the city sees more than 33ºC of average high. Although the last month of the season September sees a slight increase in rainfall, the whole season remains usually dry. https://www.worldweatheronline.com/v2/weather-averages.aspx?locid=1281642&root_id=1269759&wc=local_weather&map=~/naples-weather-averages/campania/it.aspx


1 December 2016: Kuwait
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in Western Asia. Situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, it shares borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Kuwait borders the Persian Gulf with 195 kilometers of coast.

Kuwait has an arid climate. Kuwait has a huge temperature difference between winter and summer. Rainfall in the nation varies from 75 to 150 millimeters (2.95 to 5.91 in) a year. Actual rainfall has ranged from 120 millimeters (4.72 in) a year to as much as 600 millimeters (23.6 in).

By the end of October all of the hot weather is over, and colder winter weather sets in, dropping temperatures to as low as −6 °C (21 °F) at night. On the other hand, daytime temperature is between 10–17 °C (50–63 °F). In this time, there are brief but strong thunderstorms. Frost occurs when the temperatures drop below 5 °C (41 °F).

Kuwait's winter is colder than in other Persian Gulf countries, such as Bahrain, Qatar or United Arab Emirates. Kuwait experiences colder weather because it is situated farther north, and because of cold winds blowing from upper Iraq and Iran. In Kuwait, precipitation usually occurs from October until April (mostly in November). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Kuwait
 
Regarding Kuwait , it's quite possible that pollen is the cause of such asthma . The government introduced certain desert plants in Kuwait that are not suited for dry climates , so we have all this pollen flying around !. One of these plants called Salsola Kali ( also known as Russian thistle ) happens to be one of the major cause of allergies in Kuwait .
 
So, going over the Significant events and noting Month (Season) and their respective locations, each event occurred near a large body of water.
It does not prove that hydrogen sulfide and/or methane might be involved in the events but may be a contributing factor in atmospheric conditions such as a humidity level? It could affect Pollen counts? More information is needed to understand why and how these events are produced?

6 July 1983–7 July 1983: Birmingham, England - (July Summer Season - located near the Atlantic Ocean )
8 November 1987: Melbourne, Australia - (Nov. end of Spring Season - located near the Yarra River )
29 November 1989–30 November 1989: Melbourne, Australia - (Nov. end of Spring Season - located near the Yarra River )
24 July 1994–25 July 1994: London, England - (July Summer Season - located near the Atlantic Ocean )
30 October 1997: Wagga Wagga, Australia - (Oct. during Spring Season - straddles the Murrumbidgee River )
4 June 2004: Naples, Italy - (June start of Summer - located near the Mediterranean Sea )
25 November 2010: Melbourne, Australia - (Nov. end of Spring Season - located near the Yarra River )
2 November 2013: Ahvaz, Iran - (Nov. start of Winter Season - located near the Karun river )
21 November 2016: Melbourne, Australia - (Nov. end of Spring Season - located near the Yarra River )
1 December 2016: Kuwait - (Dec. Winter Season - located at the tip of the Persian Gulf )

Regarding "each event occurred near a large body of water", Birmingham is located in the middle of England. But that doesn't mean that large bodies of water can't be significant in some way. Most volcanoes are underwater, so plumes of gases may be carried by winds to shore. Hydrogen Sulfide is a 'heavier than air' gas, so tends to pool in low lying areas, like valleys etc as water naturally does.

I would agree that outgassing of hydrogen sulfide and/or methane (and other gases) could well be contributing factors in changing atmospheric conditions; like dust loading from volcanic eruptions, comet/meteor activity and increasing wildfires too. Pollution generally seems to be having an increasing effect on more of the earth's population. Essentially we are being suffocated and poisoned from above and below osit, with the possibility of the aforementioned flammable gases igniting also!

Capital sees 60 per cent more pollution-related ailment cases

Cases of severe breathlessness, asthma and allergy have sharply risen in Delhi as the city remains blanketed in thick layer of toxic air due to the worst smog in 17 years.

Doctors and experts say that besides spike in fresh cases, health complications have aggravated in people having a history of asthma, allergy or other related ailments. "Earlier 15-20 per cent pollution-related ailment cases were reported at our hospital. But now these have gone up to 60 per cent. The most common problem is related to respiration. But this time we are seeing a rather large number of cases of severe breathlessness, coughing and sneezing and bronchiolitis due to the smog," says Dr S P Byotra, senior consultant and chairman of the department of medicine at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH).

Bronchiolitis is inflammation of the bronchioles, the smallest air passages of the lungs.

"Children and elderly are the most vulnerable to infections and allergies due to smog and pollution. So, they should take extra care, and try not to venture during early morning and at dusk when the toxic level is highest," Byotra says.

Worst smog in 17 years

Delhi is facing its worst smog in last 17 years, prompting the high court to observe that it was akin to "living in a gas chamber". The Centre has termed it an "emergency situation" and called a meeting of environment ministers of all neighbouring states tomorrow to curb stubble burning by farmers.

According to experts, it is estimated that over 20 per cent of the world's population suffers from allergic diseases such as allergic asthma, allergic rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis, atopic eczema and anaphylaxis.

"We are seeing a rise of 60-70 per cent in ailment cases related to pollution. Breathlessness, asthma, eye and skin allergies case have jumped. We are getting patients as young as a two-month-old baby who had bronchiolitis. People who had a history of or are predisposed to such ailments, such cases have also risen. Children getting affected more, as their immunological state is low. Besides, the infections are taking longer time to subside," says Dr Rahul Nagpal, Director and Head, Paediatrics, at Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj.

"Children should as far as possible avoid venturing out in the open early morning and late evening, and peak hours of the pollution," says Dr V K Paul, paediatrician at AIIMS.

According to a recent WHO report, a few Indian cities, including Delhi, Patna and Gwalior were identified as among the severely polluted cities in the world. Experts say global warming and pollution are among the major factors responsible for causing allergic ailments.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/Delhi-smog-Rise-in-asthma-allergy-cases/article16275408.ece

Regarding Kuwait , it's quite possible that pollen is the cause of such asthma . The government introduced certain desert plants in Kuwait that are not suited for dry climates , so we have all this pollen flying around !. One of these plants called Salsola Kali ( also known as Russian thistle ) happens to be one of the major cause of allergies in Kuwait .

That is very interesting. Thank you for sharing Ellaya.
 
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