Elsevier

The Lancet

Volume 326, Issue 8448, 27 July 1985, Pages 199-204
The Lancet

Environmental Health
ASTHMA OUTBREAK DURING A THUNDERSTORM

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(85)91510-7Get rights and content

Abstract

An outbreak of acute asthma occurred in Birmingham and the surrounding area on July 6 and 7, 1983. In most patients symptoms began at the time of sudden climatic changes associated with a thunderstorm. Air pollution was not a factor. The large and sudden increase in numbers of airborne fungal spores, especially Didymella exitialis and Sporobolomyces, around the time of the outbreak suggests that they may have been partly contributory, although a direct causal effect has not yet been established.

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