Health hazards of deteriorating environment
NEW DELHI: DISEASE OUTCOMES ARE LINKED TO A FADING ENVIRONMENT, WITH RISING AIR POLLUTION BEING AN IMMEDIATE CONCERN AS IT CAUSES DAMAGE TO AIRWAYS AND LUNGS, AFFECTING LUNG CAPACITY
The impacts of climate change or global warming include droughts, floods, landslides, cyclones and a rise in sea levels, among other hazards. In the long run, rising temperatures will affect clean air, safe drinking water, food supply and secure shelter, say experts.
There is a dangerous link between deteriorating environment and disease outcomes. And rising air pollution is an immediate concern as it causes irreversible damage to airways and lungs, triggering allergies and lowering lung capacity.
High temperatures raise the levels of ozone and other pollutants in the air that exacerbate cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Pollen and other aeroallergen (substances in the air that cause allergies) levels are also higher in extreme heat conditions, and can trigger asthma, says a World Health Organization (WHO) report on climate change.
Another culprit is particulate matters (PM), a mixture of solids and liquid droplets floating in the air that range between 2.5 to 10 micrometers in diameter. PM2.5 killed more than 5 lakh people in India in 2015, shows a report by the The Lancet, a British medical journal.
“The present air quality has become a threat as it is way past the permissible limit of pollutants. Pollution can affect almost all systems in the body,” says Dr Sandeep Nayar, senior consultant and the head of the department (respiratory medicine, allergy and sleep disorder), at Delhi’s BLK Super Speciality Hospital.
“Particles less than 2.5 micron (PM2.5) can directly enter our body through respiratory pathway and can lead to breathlessness, cough, fever and even choking. Our nervous system gets affected and we may experience headache, dizziness, nausea or vomiting. It also affects our heart.”
Floods, which could be triggered by global warming, contaminate freshwater supplies, heighten the risk of water-borne diseases and create breeding grounds for disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes.
“During floods, water supplies tend to get contaminated with sewage water that can lead to diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, viral hepatitis etc. The best way to prevent falling sick is by drinking boiled water,” says Dr MP Sharma, a senior consultant of gastroenterology at Rockland Hospital.
Malaria, which spreads though the bite of an anopheles mosquito and kills 400,000 people each year across the world, is severely influenced by climate.
The Aedes mosquito, which carries the dengue virus, is also highly sensitive to climate conditions, and studies suggest that climate change is likely to increase the exposure to dengue.
In India, 844, 558 cases of malaria and 194 deaths due to the disease were reported in 2017. And 188, 401 cases of dengue and 325 resultant deaths were reported the same year.
“We have done studies and found the availability of mosquitoes for more months in areas with colder climate in India. Even the density of mosquitoes has increased which can be attributed to climate change,” says Dr RC Dhiman, a senior consultant at National Institute of Malaria Research.
“There is no way to stop this increase; the only way is to spread health education for preventive measures,” he adds.