First reported case of thunderstorm asthma in Israel
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Published:2019-12-03
Issue:12
Volume:19
Page:2715-2725
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ISSN:1684-9981
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Container-title:Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
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language:en
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Short-container-title:Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.
Author:
Yair YoavORCID, Yair Yifat, Rubin BaruchORCID, Confino-Cohen Ronit, Rosman Yosef, Shachar Eduardo, Rottem Menachem
Abstract
Abstract. We report on the first recorded case of thunderstorm asthma in Israel, which
occurred during an exceptionally strong eastern Mediterranean multicell
thunderstorm on 25 October 2015. The storms were accompanied by intensive
lightning activity, severe hail, downbursts and strong winds followed by
intense rain. It was the strongest lightning-producing storm ever recorded by
the Israeli Lightning Detection Network (ILDN) since it began operations
in 1997. After the passage of the gust front and the ensuing increase in
particle concentrations, documented by air-quality sensors, the hospital
emergency room (ER) presentation records from three hospitals – two in the
direct route of the storm (Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba and Ha'Emek in
Afula) and the other just west of its ground track (Rambam Medical Center in
Haifa) – showed that the amount of presentation of patients with respiratory
problems in the hours immediately following the storm increased compared with
the average numbers in the days before. This pattern is in line with that
reported by Thien et al. (2018) for the massive thunderstorm asthma epidemic
in Melbourne, Australia. The increase in patient presentations to the
emergency rooms persisted for an additional 48–72 h before going back to
normal values, indicating that it was likely related to the multi-cell
outflow. We discuss how the likelihood of incidence of such public health
events associated with thunderstorms will be affected by global trends in
lightning occurrence.
Funder
Israel Science Foundation
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
Subject
General Earth and Planetary Sciences
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