DNA Explainer: How world's first patient suffering from 'climate change' was diagnosed

Climate change is turning out to be the biggest epidemic of our times only to surpass the COVID-19 pandemic very soon. Climate change is affecting nearly every country - developed, developing or the third world with people from every socio-economic strata of the society. And now the world has got its first patient who has been diagnosed with 'climate change'.

In Canada's British Columbia province a doctor has diagnosed a patient suffering from 'climate change', possibly the first such case recorded to date. The patient came in with breathing trouble which is apparently associated with climate change. 

Health workers in Canada say poor air quality and heatwaves were responsible for the patient's symptoms, prompting Dr Merritt, Head of Kootenay Lake Hospital's emergency room (ER) department, to make his first climate change clinical diagnosis. In the aftermath of five days of heatwaves and thick smoke from wildfires compromised air quality posing risk to health.

An international media reported that the patient was struggling to breathe after the recent wildfires in Kootenays worsened her asthma. One of the worst affected regions with wildfires, the Kootenays region in the British Columbia province alone has seen over 1,600 blazes this fiscal year, reported the BC Wildfire Service website.

Doctors in the region say numerous cases have come up where heatwave has aggravated existing health issues like diabetes and heart failure. However, linking mortality or severe illness to heat waves or air pollution is not an easy task. Over the period of time doctors are treating the surging cases of heat illness.

Lytton village in British Columbia recorded an all-time high of 49.6 degrees Celcius on June 29 this year, leading to hundreds of people dying due to the heatwaves. The link between public health and climate crisis has been a hot topic at the ongoing COP26 Summit held in Glasgow. 

What led to the diagnosis

Dr Merritt who diagnosed the case said it is time doctors started to consider the underlying cause of medical conditions triggered by heat and smoke.

The patient was apparently struggling to breathe after the recent wildfires in Kootenays worsened her asthma conditions.

Health workers say poor air quality and heatwaves were responsible for the patient's symptoms forcing them to make the clinical diagnosis.

The heatwaves combined with thick smoke from wildfires compromised air quality leading to deteriorating breathing function.

Three weeks of summer, COVID-19 pandemic, heatwaves, wildfires and air pollution linked up to severe climatic conditions.

Climate change will kill 250,000 people per year between 2030 and 2050, according to the World Health Organisation.