Global Warming is
shortening RSV season, a Serious Respiratory Illness
February 9th, 2006
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Global Warming |
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Researcher, Gavin Donaldson, PhD, from the University College London,
studied the relationship between global warming and serious respiratory
illness in the UK. He found that as the temperatures went up, the
respiratory illness season became shortened.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes severe lower respiratory
infections usually found in infants and young children. The RSV is can
develop into pneumonia and is seasonal like cold and flu season. The
RSV season in the UK is from autumn through winter.
Donaldson looked
at temperatures from 1981 through 2004. He compared the temperature
data against RSV patients in emergency room admission records. He found
that for every degree of Celsius temperature rise on an annual mean
daily basis there was around a three week shorter time period of RSV
infections.
"People know that there is a relationship, but don't know what's causing
it," Dr. Donaldson said, “It is known that as the temperature gets
colder, a lot of respiratory infections increase... There must be some
link with the temperature or the season to explain precisely why this is
happening," Dr. Donaldson said. However, he added, "there's no clear
evidence of what the mechanism is, nor has it been shown that other
respiratory illness seasons, like influenza's, have shortened due to
climate change."
Although global warming is showing the RSV season in the UK is on a
decrease there seems to be a increase in other infections and organisms,
such as Salmonella and Campylobacter. It is interesting that there is
relationship to global warming and our health, and it will be
interesting to see if there are any other correlations in the future.
By
Nicole Wilson
Best Syndication Staff Writer
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