Traffic Pollution Linked to Severe Asthma Attacks

From: Robina Suwol
Date: 13 Jun 2003
Time: 03:36:30
Remote Name: 66.143.224.149

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06 June 2003 By Patricia Reaney, Reuters

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 http://www.enn.com/news/2003-06-06/s_4820.asp

LONDON - While most asthma attacks suffered by children are caused by viral infections, they are more serious if the child has been exposed to ordinary traffic pollution, doctors said Friday. In children, about 80 percent of asthma attacks are due to viruses - most of them from the common cold virus.

Researchers at St. Mary's Hospital in Portsmouth, southern England have discovered that exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from vehicles exacerbates the attacks. .... Chauhan and his team measured the personal exposures of 114 asthmatic children between the ages of 8-11 from nonsmoking families over almost a whole year.

They found a strong relationship between higher NO2 pollution and the severity of an attack. .... "These effects are occurring at levels (of pollution) that are currently considered to be safe by international quality standards. So it has an important bearing on what we should set as targets for air quality," Chauhan said in an interview. .... Source: Reuters


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