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Science

Thunderstorms Lead to Asthma Attacks 19

Posted by michael from the cough-cough-wheeze dept.
Bill Kendrick writes "New York Times (free reg, blah blah) reports on a study that finds thunderstorms can cause asthma attacks. They suspect rain and gusts dislodge fungus spores into the air, and suggest folks with sever asthma "stay indoors" after thunderstorms."
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Thunderstorms Lead to Asthma Attacks More

Thunderstorms Lead to Asthma Attacks

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  • Talk about news for nerds :)
  • That just means that as a family physician I will arrange my on - call schedule in close consultations with the local metereological institute. Asthma housecalls are a bummer! Dirk
  • ...because fungi spores were the only allergenic stuff found to be increased on stormy days. That is, from the stuff that we know about. This is loose, loose connection: it can be also a sudden air pressure drop, sudden spike in humidity, electric discharge or static electricity causing increased smog particle agglomeration, and so on. During severe storms, there is also increased incidence of heart attacks and strokes - and the fungi spores are hardly to blame for this. The above canadian study seems pr
    • First of all, the article notes that "But the link has neither been well established nor explained." Secondly, if you do have "sever asthma" (asthma so bad, you want to sever your lungs from your body), I would argue that this article is important. Every thing possible that can be done to reduce the risk of an asthma attack - which could be lethal, is important.

      And the article does not come from the New York Times Science section, but from the Health section. If you are going to claim stories about hea

  • Other causes? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by lommer ( 566164 ) on Wednesday March 26, 2003 @02:37AM (#5596430)
    The article is a bit light on details, but could there be other causes for the spike in asthma after a thunderstorm? For example, when lightning occurs, ozone (O3) is generated. Is it possible that an increased O3 level has some effect? Or how about just plain humidity? Given that there is no causal link, and that they didn't explore a correlation with high winds (which would presumably also stir up allergens), I think it is premature to jump to that conclusion.
    • There have been a lot of studies that link O3 to asthma, especially in children. Here's one example [sinusnews.com] article about such a thing. I don't suffer from asthma myself but I have terrible allergies. I konw indivduals who have severe asthma along with allergies and they cannot use those "Ionic Breeze" air filters simply because they are known to produce ozone, which affects asthmatics negatively.
  • the nyt is slow. I thought I saw this earlier.

    mar. 14

    http://mediresource.sympatico.ca/health_news_det ai l.asp?channel_id=9&news_id=929

  • Another explanation (Score:2, Interesting)

    by jeorgen ( 84395 )
    A very elegant [wt.com.au] explanation of the cause for asthma [dr-br.com] is that it's due to subtle chronic hyperventilation. Asthma is simply a protection mechanism against the depletion of carbon dioxide in the body. Some people have genetic predisposition for this protection. CO2 is needed [wt.com.au] to balance [dr-br.com] the immune system and to relax muscle tissue, among other things. A thunderstorm imposes stress and that is enough to trigger the protection mechanism.

    Many people [yahoo.com] , bear witness [wt.com.au] of how they have rid themselves [wt.com.au] of asthma

    • Interesting, but not terribly new. The idea that the increased breathing rate of asthmatics is the cause and not an effect of their symptoms has been around for a while.

      It has been alternatively proven and disproven at least 3 times that I know of over the past 60 years or so. This theory has the same problem as every other theory/model/whatever describing asthma: asthma is not a homogeneous disease. It isn't even a single disease. Hell, some people don't even like calling it a disease at all. There are sev

      • Interesting, but not terribly new. The idea that the increased breathing rate of asthmatics is the cause and not an effect of their symptoms has been around for a while.

        If you're interested, I advise you to try. It really does work. I've done it. I did not have asthma per se but bronchitis (seasonal). It lubricates the mucus membranes, relaxes the smooth tissue muscles and moderates the immune system. It so obvious when you do it, as long as you're actually increasing your co2 level, and you're not just ov

        • There must be I think, but, again, I'd like to hear about them.

          As another poster said, there are many causes for asthma. I myself have suffered from asthma, and I've personally (i.e. not really confirmed by any medical professional) observed at least two different forms of it.

          One, which correlates very well with the Buteyko theory, is brought on by heavy exercise in cold weather. I've known and heard of many people who suffer from so called 'exercise induced asthma'. I seem to suffer from this a littl
          • For those who only get it when exercising, it isn't much good, since they are breathing so heavily because they need the O2 for the exertion! And for those with allergic-type, I can't see how it could do any good.

            My problems where not asthma, but inflammatory reaction, ie allergic-type. Still Buteyko helped me. With regards to exercise-induced asthma, the theory is that exertion makes you overbreathe, either directly from the exercise, after the exercise or even because you breathed to less during the ex

  • I always considered the air freshest and clean after a nice thunderstorm and downpour.

    Why do people always tell asthmatics to stay inside? Isn't the air inside most homes proven to be far more toxic that most outdoor air? I say climb a mountain.
  • Thunderstorms that rain fungus spores? That sounds interesting but I have a question. How do the spores get up in the clounds. Or should I say how do the spores get in the rain.

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