This Thursday, June 6, the national aerobiological monitoring network issues an alert regarding the risk of storm asthma.
Did you know about storm asthma? This Thursday, June 6, a cocktail of elements greatly increases the risk of being exposed, warns the national aerobiological surveillance network (RNSA) in a press release.
Storm asthma does not only affect people with asthma. He “can affect everyone, asthmatic or not”.
The combo of storms and pollen concentration
Why this Thursday June 6? Because this date constitutes both the hottest day of the week, and that it is associated with a risk of thunderstorms generalized to around thirty departments.
Heat is an aggravating factor during periods of high risk of pollen allergy. At the moment, the risk from grass pollen is at its highest throughout France, according to a previous RNSA bulletin.
“These weather conditions, combined with the high concentrations of grass pollen currently observed and forecast for this week, significantly increase the risk of thunderstorm asthma,” specifies the press release.
Why do thunderstorms increase the risk?
When there is a storm, descending winds increase the concentration of pollen towards the ground by bringing those from the upper layers of air downward.
“Due to the high humidity in the air, gusts of wind and variations in the electric field of the atmosphere, pollens become engorged with water and burst. The result is fine allergenic particles which can penetrate even deeper in the lungs”explains the RNSA.
Who is most at risk?
Concretely, storm asthma, even if it does not necessarily affect people with asthma, manifests itself as an asthma attack, namely sudden difficulty breathing. The phenomenon described above can go as far as “trigger serious attacks of bronchospasm”.
Although thunderstorm asthma can affect everyone, the people most at risk are children and young adults, people who are allergic to pollen and obviously, people with asthma.
