Climate change is already causing a 60% increase in cases of respiratory symptoms and even bronchitis and even pneumonia, although the incidence of the latter is lower.
Alfredo González Castañeda, a member of the Medical Society of Tehuacan, said the number of patients suffering from respiratory illnesses has increased in recent weeks, with climate change being the main factor, as well as seasonality. Celebrations lead to more people being exposed to the cold.
“Such cases started to increase due to carelessness, such as prolonged exposure to cold or contact with sick people, mainly in children and the elderly,” he said.
Thus, 2 out of 10 patients who present with respiratory illness eventually develop bronchitis, and 2 out of every 100 patients who develop respiratory illness develop pneumonia.
These relatively low or controlled numbers are still complicated by the immunity provided by diseases such as influenza; therefore, in a few weeks, there will be uncertainty about the level of citizen participation in current influenza and Covid-19 vaccination campaigns, as well as infection behavior. In other words, the results will be obvious.
Generally speaking, respiratory symptoms tend to increase during climate change, which then normalize and then remain the same or even higher than what occurs during hot seasons.