Environmental factors continue to make a case for greater risk of catching the new flu, H1N1/A.
Click maps to enlarge.
Though the following article addresses the increased risk of cancer due to air pollution, it's also easy to make a connection to the rates of new flu infection (mapped above) with bad air (mapped here.)
EPA study: 2.2M live in areas where air poses cancer risk
The government's latest snapshot of air pollution across the nation shows residents of New York, Oregon and California faced the highest risk of developing cancer from breathing toxic chemicals.
The results, compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency, represent the most sweeping analysis to date of the state of the nation's air. The analysis is based on emissions from 2002, the latest year for which the EPA had detailed estimates of pollution from across the nation. -- more at USA TODAY.
2 comments:
Here is some good information on the air pollution-cancer risk story:
Air Pollution Risks Down, But Still Unacceptably High in Some Areas: http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/category/health-concerns/toxic-substances
Health officials estimate that as many as 1 million Americans now have the new swine flu. Lyn Finelli, a flu surveillance official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, voiced the estimate at a vaccine advisory meeting Thursday in Atlanta.
Other health problems have been a factor in most cases: About one in three of the hospitalized cases had asthma, 16 percent diabetes, 12 percent have immune system problems and 11 percent chronic heart disease.
The numbers again highlight how the young seem to be particularly at risk of catching the new virus. But data also show that the flu has been more dangerous to adults who catch it.
The average age of swine flu patients is 12, the average age for hospitalized patients is 20, and for people who died, it was 37.
AP
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