Study links wildfire smoke to skin disease

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uoc--foi041921.php

 

News Release 21-Apr-2021
First of its kind study links wildfire smoke to skin disease
University of California - San Francisco

 

Wildfire smoke can trigger a host of respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms, ranging from runny nose and cough to a potentially life-threatening heart attack or stroke. A new study suggests that the dangers posed by wildfire smoke may also extend to the largest organ in the human body, and our first line of defense against outside threat: the skin.

During the two weeks in November 2018 when wildfire smoke from the Camp Fire choked the San Francisco Bay Area, health clinics in San Francisco saw an uptick in the number of patients visiting with concerns of eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, and general itch, compared to the same time of the year in 2015 and 2016, the study found.

The findings suggest that even short-term exposure to hazardous air quality from wildfire smoke can be damaging to skin health. The report, carried out by physician researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, in collaboration with researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, appears on April 21 in the journal JAMA Dermatology.


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