By Adam Vaughan, New Scientist, January 5, 2022

About one in 12 new child asthma cases worldwide are associated with exposure to a toxic gas released by diesel vehicles, according to a new estimate.

Breathing high levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) has been previously linked with triggering and exacerbating asthma in childhood. The evidence is now considered strong enough that in 2020, a UK coroner ruled that exposure to the pollutant contributed to the death of 9-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah.

Susan Anenberg at George Washington University in Washington DC and her colleagues estimate that 1.85 million new childhood asthma cases were linked with the gas in 2019, making up 8.5 per cent of all new cases that year. That is down from 13 per cent four years earlier, mainly due to richer countries cleaning up their air through emissions standards for vehicles and industry.

“I think this is a good news story for NO2. The fraction of new paediatric asthma cases that are attributable to NO2 has dropped,” says Anenberg.

However, the researchers show how unevenly the burden today falls on cities and poorer countries. About two-thirds of the linked asthma cases are in urban areas. And while high-income nations saw NO2-associated cases fall by 41 per cent – driven largely by North America – south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa saw them rise.

The researchers used satellite and land use data to map annual average NO2 levels in one kilometre-wide squares globally, before taking data on total childhood asthma cases to estimate how many were associated with NO2, based on 20 epidemiological studies.

“It is important to note that the actual pollutants in the traffic emission mix that cause asthma remain elusive, and these results do not suggest that we should focus on only emissions of NO2 alone,” says Jonathan Grigg at Queen Mary University of London.

There are some other potential caveats: data on the air pollutant is patchy in some parts of the world, particularly in Africa. And in some low and middle-income countries, the total figures on all child asthma cases may be an underestimate, which would also make the number linked to NO2 too low.

Nonetheless, Anenberg says the results stand and are a reminder that governments around the world need to translate tough new guidelines from the World Health Organization into legal standards. “The key takeaway for me is the vast majority of people on the face of the planet are breathing air pollution that is unsafe,” she says.

Journal reference: The Lancet Planetary Health, DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00255-2

Source ~ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2303473-one-in-12-new-cases-of-asthma-in-children-linked-to-no2-air-pollution/

Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus, or RSV, is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Most people recover in a week or two, but RSV can be serious, especially for infants and older adults.

RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lung) and pneumonia (infection of the lungs) in children younger than 1 year of age in the United States.

People at High Risk for Severe RSV Infection ~

Most people who get an RSV infection will have mild illness and will recover in a week or two. Some people, however, are more likely to develop severe RSV infection and may need to be hospitalized.

Examples of severe infections include bronchiolitis (an inflammation of the small airways in the lung) and pneumonia. RSV can also make chronic health problems worse. For example, people with asthma may experience asthma attacks as a result of RSV infection, and people with congestive heart failure may experience more severe symptoms triggered by RSV.

The following groups of people are more likely to get serious complications if they get sick with RSV: (1) Infants, (2) Young children, (3) Older adults, (4) Asthmatics, (5) Combined with air pollution.

SOURCE ~ Spectrum Local News, December 23, 2021

Comments by Sandra Steingraber, Facebook, 12/23/21

“In Arlington [Texas], drilling is supposed to occur no closer than 600 feet from day care centers or homes. But companies can apply for a waiver from the City Council to drill as close as 300 feet.

“Arlington’s air quality exceeds federal ozone pollution standards set by the EPA. In 2012, at the height of the fracking boom, asthma rates for school-age children in Tarrant County were 19%-25% — far above national and state norms.

“The gas wells next to Mother’s Heart represent just a tiny fraction of Total’s global operations. Yet the company holds tight to its plans to drill there despite the community’s resistance.”

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/dallas-fort-worth/public-safety/2021/12/22/gas-well-fumes-are-making-daycare-workers-sick-in-arlington

Diesel exhaust causing low-dose irritant asthma with latency?

Femi Adewole, Vicky C. Moore, Alastair S. Robertson, & P. S. Burge, Occupational Medicine, Volume 59, Issue 6, September 2009, Pages 424–427

Background — Diesel exhaust exposure may cause acute irritant-induced asthma and potentiate allergen-induced asthma. There are no previous reports of occupational asthma due to diesel exhaust.

Aims — To describe occupational asthma with latency in workers exposed to diesel exhaust in bus garages.

Methods — The Shield database of occupational asthma notifications in the West Midlands, UK, was searched between 1990 and 2006 for workers where diesel exhaust exposure was thought to be the cause of the occupational asthma. Those without other confounding exposures whose occupational asthma was validated by serial peak expiratory flow (PEF) analysis using Oasys software were included.

Results — Fifteen workers were identified with occupational asthma attributed to diesel exhaust. Three had validated new-onset asthma with latency. All worked in bus garages where diesel exhaust exposure was the only likely cause of their occupational asthma. Occupational asthma was confirmed by measures of non-specific reactivity and serial measurements of PEF with Oasys scores of 2.9, 3.73 and 4 (positive score > 2.5).

Conclusions — The known non-specific irritant effects of diesel exhaust suggest that this is an example of low-dose irritant-induced asthma and that exposures to diesel exhaust in at least some bus garages are at a sufficient level to cause this.