Pollution, Climate Change, and Environmental Allergy

Climate change and air pollution are topics of current interest due to their impact on adults’ and children’s health: according to WHO, in most countries, more than 90% of people breathe polluted air. Due to climate change and global warming, extreme weather events such as floods, hurricanes, typhoons, droughts, and sandstorms have become increasingly frequent in recent years, arousing concern. Global and regional climate change causes a variation in airborne allergen amounts and distribution, affecting allergic diseases such as rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma. For physiological reasons, infants and children are particularly vulnerable to climate change and air pollution. In addition, exposure to extreme weather events and air pollution in childhood increases the risk of wheezing, asthma development or exacerbations, and lung function impairment. As many diseases linked to pollution and climate change have no curative treatments yet, it is important to engage today through environmental policies and interventions to reduce this serious problem.