Lung health in era of climate change and dust storms

Schweitzer, M.D.; Calzadilla, Andrew; Salamó, Oriana; Sharifi, Arash; Kumar, Naresh; Holt, G.E.; Campos, Michael; Mirsaeidi, Mehdi

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2018.02.001

Cited by 110 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…A case-crossover study in the United States demonstrated the short-term effects of air pollution on acute lower respiratory infections [14], while another study demonstrated increased numbers of pneumonia admissions following acute dust storm events in Taiwan [33]. Dust storms can act as a pathogen carrier and also induce inflammatory reactions, potentially increasing both exposure and susceptibility to disease agents [15]. Horizontal ground visibility and wind speed were used as proxies for the occurrence of sandstorms and acute air pollution events.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Air quality is also associated with respiratory infections. Air pollution has been linked to pneumonia and acute lower respiratory infections [13,14], while dust storms are associated with infectious respiratory disease by acting both as a carrier of pathogens and increasing airway susceptibility to infection [15]. The risk of acquiring primary MERS may be influenced by changes in weather conditions in two ways.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A case-crossover analysis of the impact of weather on primary cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome

et al. 2019

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BackgroundMiddle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is endemic in dromedary camels in the Arabian Peninsula, and zoonotic transmission to people is a sporadic event. In the absence of epidemiological data on the reservoir species, patterns of zoonotic transmission have largely been approximated from primary human cases. This study aimed to identify meteorological factors that may increase the risk of primary MERS infections in humans.MethodsA case-crossover design was used to identify associations between primary MERS cases and preceding weather conditions within the 2-week incubation period in Saudi Arabia using univariable conditional logistic regression. Cases with symptom onset between January 2015 – December 2017 were obtained from a publicly available line list of human MERS cases maintained by the World Health Organization. The complete case dataset (N = 1191) was reduced to approximate the cases most likely to represent spillover transmission from camels (N = 446). Data from meteorological stations closest to the largest city in each province were used to calculate the daily mean, minimum, and maximum temperature (οC), relative humidity (%), wind speed (m/s), and visibility (m). Weather variables were categorized according to strata; temperature and humidity into tertiles, and visibility and wind speed into halves.ResultsLowest temperature (Odds Ratio = 1.27; 95% Confidence Interval = 1.04–1.56) and humidity (OR = 1.35; 95% CI = 1.10–1.65) were associated with increased cases 8–10 days later. High visibility was associated with an increased number of cases 7 days later (OR = 1.26; 95% CI = 1.01–1.57), while wind speed also showed statistically significant associations with cases 5–6 days later.ConclusionsResults suggest that primary MERS human cases in Saudi Arabia are more likely to occur when conditions are relatively cold and dry. This is similar to seasonal patterns that have been described for other respiratory diseases in temperate climates. It was hypothesized that low visibility would be positively associated with primary cases of MERS, however the opposite relationship was seen. This may reflect behavioural changes in different weather conditions. This analysis provides key initial evidence of an environmental component contributing to the development of primary MERS-CoV infections.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A case-crossover analysis of the impact of weather on primary cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome

et al. 2019

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“…Airborne dust storms are not a new environmental phenomenon but their importance and incidence have increased during recent decades as a consequence of human activity and global climate change (Schweitzer et al , 2018). Sources of dust are typically areas of the world with hyper‐aridity having mean annual rainfall of <100 mm (Goudie, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the detrimental effect of airborne dust on herbicide efficacy

et al. 2020

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One side effect of human activity and global climatic change is more airborne dust. This not only has undesirable effects on human health and the environment, but may also adversely affect many agricultural processes, including herbicide efficacy. This is particularly relevant in parts of the world where dust storms are common and limited rainfall means dust persists on plants for protracted periods. Accordingly, a series of greenhouse dose–response pot experiments was carried out to quantify the effect of a dust concentration of 1,500 µg/m3 on the performance of paraquat, glyphosate, sulfosulfuron and 2,4‐D+MCPA. Dust‐treated and untreated seedlings of Hordeum spontaneum and Sinapis arvensis were sprayed with sulfosulfuron and 2,4‐D+MCPA, respectively, while paraquat and glyphosate were applied to both weed species. The efficacy of glyphosate and paraquat decreased significantly in the presence of dust on both species. Similar results were observed for 2,4‐D+MCPA on S. arvensis. In contrast, the efficacy of sulfosulfuron on H. spontaneum was not affected by dust. In the presence of dust, the doses of glyphosate, paraquat and 2,4‐D+MCPA required for a 90% effect were enhanced by a factor of 1.9 to 2.6. The negative impact on glyphosate efficacy was more pronounced in S. arvensis than H. spontaneum, while it was similar for paraquat. Future studies should consider the amount, duration and composition of dust as well as its impact on other weeds and herbicides. Potential approaches to overcome the detrimental influence of dust on the performance of herbicides were also suggested for future studies.

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“…These results confirm the need to consider the value of assets for assessing risks from land degradation. According to Schweitzer et al (), dust emission as a serious hazard to human health, causing many respiratory diseases for residents who live in areas affected by wind erosion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A geographic information system‐based land use impact model to map areas with risk for land degradation: Wind erosion as an example

et al. 2020

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Wind erosion modeling is hampered by the complexity of the relationships between factors involved in this process and the absence of comprehensive empirical data. In this study, we developed a geographic information system-based Land Use Impact Model and investigated its potential use for assessing the wind erosion risk in different land uses and wind geomorphic units. The obtained results were validated by field measurements and observations using a wind erosion simulator. Comparing the measured wind erosion intensities by the wind erosion simulator with those from the likelihood map obtained from the model revealed the high potency of the developed model for assessing land degradation due to wind erosion in our data scarce arid studied regions. Almost 90% of the mapping units in the likelihood map had similar wind erosion classes to the measured values. Furthermore, there was a high wind erosion occurrence risk in most parts of the studied regions (i.e., about 64% of the study area), and no mapping units in the study area were classified as 'very low' risk class. In addition, only about 9% of the surveyed mapping units were classified as a 'low' risk class, indicating an undesirable situation of the study area with regard to wind erosion.

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Lung health in era of climate change and dust storms

Cited by 110 publications

References 92 publications

A case-crossover analysis of the impact of weather on primary cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome

A case-crossover analysis of the impact of weather on primary cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome

Quantifying the detrimental effect of airborne dust on herbicide efficacy

A geographic information system‐based land use impact model to map areas with risk for land degradation: Wind erosion as an example

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