Image copyright Matthew Wu Image caption Paramedics were flooded with calls after the storm hit

The number of people dying in the Australian city of Melbourne from a rare phenomenon called thunderstorm asthma has risen to eight.

One person remains in a critical condition.

Heavy rains and winds last Monday triggered thousands of pollen allergy asthma attacks in the state of Victoria.

Paramedics and hospitals were stretched to their limits as thousands phoned to report breathing problems.

Thunderstorm asthma occurs in the spring when rye grass pollen gets wet, breaks into smaller pieces and enters people's lungs, causing them breathing problems.

More than 8,000 people were treated in hospital.

About one in 10 people has asthma in Australia, with about 80% of those sufferers experiencing allergies, particularly to rye pollen.

Melbourne's current spring season has been particularly wet, creating havoc for asthma and hay fever sufferers.</s>More than a week after a rare condition known as thunderstorm asthma struck Australia's second-largest city, the death toll has risen to eight, with one other person on life support, officials have said.

The latest two victims died in hospital intensive care units on Monday night and Tuesday morning from medical complications stemming from a wild thunderstorm which struck Melbourne on November 21, a Health Department statement said.

Another patient remained in intensive care. Another six were in hospital with less serious respiratory and related conditions.

Last week's storm caused rain-sodden ryegrass pollen grains to explode and disperse over the city, with tiny pollen particles penetrating deep into lungs.

Around a third of patients who suffered asthma attacks reported never having asthma before.

The storm overwhelmed emergency services and hospitals in the city of 4.5 million people, with 8,500 receiving hospital treatment.

The world's first recorded thunderstorm asthma event occurred in Melbourne in 1987, when hospitals reported a five-fold increase in asthma cases. Similar events have happened in the United States, Canada, Britain and Italy. The last major event in Melbourne was in November 2010.</s>Six people have died and five remain on life support after a rare condition known as thunderstorm asthma struck Australia's second-largest city.

The sixth victim died in hospital on Saturday night from medical complications stemming from a wild thunderstorm that struck Melbourne on Monday night, the health department said.

Five patients remained in intensive care units and three of those were in critical condition, department said. Another 12 patients were in hospitals with less serious respiratory and related conditions.

Monday's storm caused rain-sodden ryegrass pollen grains to explode and disperse over the city, with tiny pollen particles penetrating deep into lungs. Around a third of patients who suffered asthma attacks on Monday reported never having asthma before.

The storm overwhelmed emergency services and hospitals in the city of 4.5 million people, with 8,500 receiving hospital treatment.

The world's first recorded thunderstorm asthma event occurred in Melbourne in 1987, when hospitals reported a five-fold increase in asthma cases.

Similar events have happened in the United States, Canada, Britain and Italy. The last major event in Melbourne was in November 2010.</s>One week later, 12 people are still receiving hospital treatment, including three who are in a critical condition, according to the Victoria Department of Health and Human Services.

Thunderstorm asthma occurs when a storm hits during a period of unusually high pollen and high humidity, causing the grains to break up and disperse, entering people's lungs and making it hard for them to breathe.

In a survey by the University of Melbourne, 74% of respondents said they experienced an asthma attack during the storm last week.

Though grass pollen is the most common known cause of thunderstorm asthma, attacks can also be triggered by excessive levels of tree pollen and fungal spores in the atmosphere. "This will vary by geography," said Aziz Sheikh, Professor of Primary Care Research and Development at the University of Edinburgh, adding that pollen from olive trees, for example, was reported in a previous thunderstorm asthma event in Italy in 2010. Levels of fungal spores in the atmosphere typically peak during harvest, which can also be drawn up and broken down during large thunderstorms due to the rise in atmospheric pressure, according to Sheikh. An official review is currently underway into how Victoria's state emergency services and health system responded to the thunderstorm asthma emergency. An extra 60 ambulances had to be deployed as more than 1,900 calls flooded emergency lines in four hours, or one call every four to five seconds. Thousands of people across Melbourne were hospitalized due to thunderstorm asthma. While thunderstorm asthma has occurred all over the world in different conditions, there are persistent factors, according to Reena Ghildyal, an expert in biomedical sciences at the University of Canberra. "There are many common threads in all reports of thunderstorm-related asthma -- a high concentration of potentially allergenic material such as that in late spring in Melbourne (pollen grains or fungi), a thunderstorm that sweeps up the allergens, which burst when wet and release very small particles (such as starch granules or fungal spores)," she wrote last week People with pre-existing asthma are particularly at risk of complications from thunderstorm asthma, and should therefore take necessary precautions. "Keep updated on local pollen counts and weather forecasts, especially in spring; keep your asthma medication up to date; enjoy the spectacle of the thunderstorm from inside your house; and call (emergency services) if your asthma worsens or you feel any breathing difficulty," she said.</s>A sixth person has died in a mass asthma outbreak caused by a thunderstorm in Melbourne.

Five people remain on life support with three in a critical condition a week after heavy winds and rain hit Australia’s second-largest city.

The extreme weather on Monday night spread tiny pollen particles across the city, triggering a rare condition known as thunderstorm asthma.

Ryegrass pollen grains became soaked and broke open in the storm, dispersing very fine, highly allergenic particles, which can penetrate deep into the lungs.

The sixth victim died in in hospital on Saturday night from medical complications stemming from storm, according to the health department.

It said another 12 patients were still in hospitals with less serious respiratory and related conditions.

Around 8,500 people received hospital treatment in total, with a third of patients who suffered asthma attacks on Monday night reporting never having had asthma before.

Local emergency services said they took six times more calls than the daily average between 6pm and 11pm local time.

“It was extraordinarily busy, it was unprecedented,” Mick Stephenson, Ambulance Victoria's executive director of emergency operations, told the BBC.

He said about 200 calls were directly linked to asthma, but 600 more reported respiratory issues.

“What we do know is that a lot of people who called last night had never had asthma before, so this was their first experience,” he said.

The world's first recorded thunderstorm asthma event occurred in Melbourne in 1987, when hospitals reported a five-fold increase in asthma cases.

Similar events have taken place in the United States, Canada, Britain and Italy. The last major occurrence in Melbourne was in November 2010.

Before this week, the largest known outbreak was in London in June 1994, when hospitals were inundated by 640 patients seeking emergency treatment for asthma and other breathing problems.

Australian health minister Jill Hennessy said an investigation would be launched by the Inspector General for Emergency Management.

But shadow health minister Mary Wooldridge said there had “clearly been a communications failure” on Monday night, according to the Herald Sun.

“This was life and death and there were no alerts to the media, the information was not going out to people,” she said.

The incident occurred on one of Australia's hottest November days. At 8am the temperature had already hit 26 degrees, rising to 35 degrees in the afternoon before the storm hit.

By Tuesday the weather had dropped to a dramatic 18 degrees cooler, providing relief to residents who described it as “typically Melbourne”, local media reported.</s>The death toll linked to Australia's "thunderstorm asthma" has risen to six and three others are in critical condition, authorities said on Sunday.

Four victims — ranging from the ages of 18 years to 35 years — were last week linked to the unusual weather phenomenon, where a thunderstorm coincided with a high pollen count and sent more than 8,500 patients to hospital emergency departments.

The rare event in Australia's southern state of Victoria triggered respiratory problems for asthma and hay fever sufferers.

"There have now been six deaths that may have occurred as a result of conditions relating to the thunderstorm asthma events on Monday," Victoria's health department spokesman said.

"Five patients are continuing to receive specialist ICU (intensive care unit) care in hospitals in Melbourne, with three still in a critical condition."

Twelve people were being treated for respiratory and other health problems, he added.

No further details were released about the two latest victims.

Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy said on Thursday that the demand for ambulances was so acute at one point that “it was like having 150 bombs going off right across a particular part of metropolitan Melbourne.”

The government has launched a review into how emergency and health services can better respond and manage such rare events.

The phenomena occurs when rye grass pollen gets wet, breaks into smaller pieces and enters people's lungs, causing them breathing issues. It is only known to have occurred in Australia several times.</s>Two victims died in hospital intensive care units on Monday night and Tuesday morning from medical complications stemming from a Nov. 21 thunderstorm that caused rain-sodden ryegrass pollen to explode and disperse over the city, with tiny particles penetrating deep into lungs.

SYDNEY, Australia — When David McGann left his office in Melbourne just after 5 p.m. to cycle home, a stifling heat had settled across the city, and the temperature was peaking at 95 degrees.

A hot, gusty northerly wind picked up. Rain clouds had gathered across the skyline, but there was little relief. “It was the hottest day of the season,” said McGann, 35, who manages accounts at a law practice. “By the time I got home and had a swim, my chest had started to tighten.”

McGann’s partner, Kelli Morris, kissed him goodbye at their apartment to join teammates playing in a nighttime netball competition. When she returned, he was on the couch, sitting quietly, struggling for breath. The inhaler he found after rummaging through drawers was five years past its expiration date.

McGann was one of thousands of people in Melbourne having an attack of thunderstorm asthma. They flooded the city’s emergency rooms, swamped ambulance call lines and joined lines around pharmacies during six hours on Nov. 21. All were struggling for breath. About 8,500 people went to hospitals. Eight have died, and one remains in intensive care more than a week after a thunderstorm surged across Melbourne, carrying pollen that strong winds and rain broke into tiny fragments.

Perennial ryegrass seeds were swept up in whorls of wind and carried from four million hectares of pasturelands (about 9.9 million acres) that lie to Melbourne’s north and west. If broken into fragments, they are so fine that they can be inhaled.

So many people became ill so quickly that some of the state’s crisis medical teams were stretched beyond their limits. Firefighters and police officers stepped in where paramedics were overloaded. Triage centers at 10 hospitals struggled with admissions across Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, with a population of 4.4 million in the greater metropolitan area and suburbs.

“This was a health emergency of an unprecedented scale,” said Jill Hennessy, the minister for health and ambulance services in Victoria state, announcing a statewide inquiry. “We have an obligation to ensure that we learn every lesson there is to learn from this event.” Days later, she pledged $375 million to add 450 paramedics and build more ambulance stations.

The crisis started just after 6 p.m. and gathered pace so swiftly that paramedics were taking one call for help every four and a half seconds. Ninety minutes later, 175 people across the city were seriously ill, struggling to breathe, and 140 of them were so short of breath that they were considered at risk of dying. Paramedics knew they were in dire straits.

Tracy Shields, 41, a pharmacist working the late shift at Tambassis Pharmacy in Brunswick, a suburb of Melbourne, said she could see a thunderstorm approaching as she headed to work just after 6 p.m. “The wind started gusting,” she said. “I got out of my car and immediately felt grit in my eyes. And then it started to rain.”

Scientists are uncertain whether the rain caused the grass seeds to swell and rupture, creating minuscule fragments, or whether the wind and heat were enough to break the seeds, creating the conditions that caused thunderstorm asthma.

The previous episode in Melbourne occurred on Nov. 25, 2010, but it was not nearly as severe, said Ed Newbigin, an associate professor at the University of Melbourne, where he runs a daily pollen count at the school of biosciences. An earlier episode, in November 1989, sent 277 people to hospitals, and 47 were admitted.

Grass pollen is usually too large to enter the small airways of the lungs, Newbigin said. It can cause hay fever in those who suffer allergic reactions to pollen. Scientists also know winds created in thunderstorms concentrate these tiny seed particles at ground level, where they are easily inhaled.

“Those storm cells pick up all that pollen and dump it in Melbourne,” said Dr. Lorraine Baker, who heads the Australian Medical Association in Victoria. “If you are sensitive to ryegrass, which is a very common allergy, it’s like having a whole immune challenge thrown directly into your face. Your airways start to close.”

Emergency services were surprised by the number of so-called silent patients. “They appear OK, but their airways are so obstructed that they are concentrating, really focusing, on staying upright and just breathing,” Baker said.

McGann did not end up in the hospital. But by the time he found a pharmacy open late, he was beginning to panic. “Every breath I took made the next breath harder,” he said, adding that he had no family history of asthma. “I just didn’t realize it could have the effect it had.”

Grass pollen is the primary source of allergies in southern Australia, and tracking the data allowed scientists to forecast high levels of grass seeds in the atmosphere on Nov. 21. Still, Hennessy said, the government was taken by surprise.

“When there is a flood or fire, you can see it,” she said. “Unpredictable weather patterns and the impact on health is a new, emerging frontier for public health risks.”</s>6 people are dead and almost 9,000 hospitalized in Australia after a ‘bio warfare’ thunderstorm left emergency services stretched beyond capacity.

The bizarre storm, known as “thunderstorm asthma,” gave some people heart attacks and others struggling to breathe, as ambulances were reportedly called for on average every 4 seconds.

Right now if you search for this story on Google News Australia, there isn’t a peep about it in the top news. You have to type in the word “asthma”.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that at the peak of this “thunderstorm asthma” outbreak, people were calling for an ambulance one every 4.5 seconds and “it was like 150 bombs going off”:

“When we’ve had people calling for ambulances – one call every 4½ seconds at the peak – it was like having 150 bombs going off right across a particular part of metropolitan Melbourne.

And that’s something we’ve never really planned for.”

What officials are suggesting happened is that pollen grains from rye grass fields surrounding Melboune were blown across the city just before a sudden downpour. Once the rain hit, the pollen grains absorbed the moisture and burst in the air, releasing thousands of much smaller allergen nanoparticles that were inhaled and became trapped in people’s lungs.

Once the rain stopped, thousands of people began suffering asthma symptoms all at once, everything from breathing issues to cardiac problems.

Some people suffered heart attacks. Six people have died so far. One girl died in her family’s arms in their front lawn after waiting more than half an hour for an ambulance. The system was completely overloaded. Apparently in Melbourne they ran out of ambulances and had to resort to every other emergency and even non-emergency vehicles they could find to help get people to the hospital. More than 60 people are still in the hospital, some in critical condition fighting for their lives.

Officials claim this can occur when weather conditions suddenly change, but in an era where they’re trying to get us to believe in man-made climate change, I call B.S. Doesn’t that just sound ridiculous on the surface? The weather suddenly changes all the time. If that’s really all it is, why doesn’t this “rare phenomenon” happen a lot more often?

The official story sounds fishy to say the least, which is why speculation has risen that some kind of biological warfare agent is being tested. Sure, that’s conspiracy talk, but for once the conspiracy sounds a hell of a lot more plausible than the official narrative of “thunderstorm asthma”.</s>SYDNEY (Reuters) - A sixth person has died in the Australian city of Melbourne after a storm triggered thousands of pollen allergy asthma attacks, the Victorian state government said on Sunday.

Heavy rain and winds on Monday, just as spring peaks in the southern state of Victoria, allowed rye grass pollen to absorb moisture and burst into smaller particles that sent the pollen count soaring.

"This was a tragic and unforeseen event and hospitals are continuing to treat 12 people for a variety of respiratory and other related conditions, in addition to those in ICU care," a Victorian health department spokesman said in a statement.

Five patients are still receiving specialist intensive care treatment in hospitals and three people are in a critical condition, the spokesman said.

Across Monday and Tuesday, hospitals treated more than 8,500 patients, according to the Victorian health department.
The death toll from an outbreak of thunderstorm asthma on 21 November in the Australian city of Melbourne reaches 6. Three others are in a critical condition.