{"id":166923,"date":"2025-01-13T13:29:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T19:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/?p=166923"},"modified":"2025-02-20T15:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T21:25:10","slug":"health-risks-from-wildfire-smoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/health\/health-risks-from-wildfire-smoke\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are the Health Risks from Wildfire Smoke?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Multiple massive wildfires are raging in Los Angeles<\/a>, blanketing the surrounding regions under a pungent haze caused by smoke carrying noxious gases and particulate matter that pose serious health risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is what you need to know about the risks of the smoke that is likely to linger not only in southern California but in other regions around the world where wildfires are burning:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hailey Ott and her mother, Cindi Ott, look at the damage caused to their home by the Eaton Fire as high winds fuel the devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area and force people to evacuate in Altadena, California. (Photo: Fred Greaves\/REUTERS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What Are the Health Risks from Wildfire Smoke?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

More toxic than normal air pollution, wildfire smoke can linger in the air for weeks and travel hundreds of miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wildfires can burn not only vegetative materials and trees but also cities, destroying vehicles, buildings, and their contents. Along with particles of soil and biological materials, wildfire smoke often contains traces of chemicals, metals, plastics, and other synthetic materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In laboratory experiments, a given amount of wildfire smoke causes more inflammation and tissue damage than the same amount of air pollution, according to Kent Pinkerton, co-director of the Center for Health and the Environment at the University of California, Davis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studies have linked wildfire smoke with higher rates of heart attacks, strokes, and cardiac arrests, increases in emergency room visits for respiratory conditions, and weakened immune defenses. A study in Maryland identified a spike in heart and lung illnesses in 2023 that was associated with wildfire smoke originating up to 2,100 miles away in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wildfires also have been linked with eye irritation<\/a> and skin problems.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effects of exposure can persist for years. After Australia’s 2014 Hazelwood Coal Mine fire, rates of heart disease remained elevated for two and a half years and respiratory illnesses for five years, researchers have reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wildfire exposure in pregnancy has been associated with pregnancy loss, low birth weight, and preterm delivery<\/strong>. A study from California found a link between wildfire exposure and cellular damage in first- and second-trimester placentas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canadian researchers have reported that people who lived outside of major cities and within 31 miles of a wildfire in the past decade had a 4.9% higher risk of lung cancer and a 10% higher risk of brain tumors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exposure to the 2018 Camp Fire in California was linked to changes in cognition and brain activity six to 12 months later, possibly related to stress and trauma, according to California researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data from California also show an increase in fungal infections in the months following wildfire smoke exposure, likely due to fungal spores in the smoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higher exposure to wildfire smoke is also associated with higher odds of developing dementia, according to a study of southern California seniors without dementia at baseline. Even \u201ca few severe wildfire smoke days,\u201d with the Air Quality Index over 200<\/strong>, could translate into increased risk, said Joan Casey of the University of Washington in Seattle, who led the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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