AUSTRALIAN THUNDERSTORM-ASTHMA: CAUSES, CURE, PREVENTION, AND INSTANT RELIEF FROM IT

        AUSTRALIAN THUNDERSTORM-ASTHMA: POSSIBLE

CAUSES, CURE, PREVENTION, AND INSTANT RELIEF FROM IT.
(© Dr. V.M.Palaniappan, Ph.D., vmpalaniappan@gmail.com; Mobile: 6-012-2071414)

(Service rendered by Google is gratefully acknowledged)

I am sure you must have heard of the latest news about people dying of the so-called ‘Thunderstorm Asthma’ in Melbourne, Australia.

If not, you can gain access through the following URLs: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/23/health/thunderstorm-asthma-australia/
'Thunderstorm asthma:' Deadly illness caused by freak weather By Reed Alexander and James Griffiths, CNN: Updated 0519 GMT (1319 HKT) November 24, 2016 

(CNN) An unusual combination of weather conditions leading to a freak illness known as thunderstorm asthma has left four people dead in Australia.

 Thousands of people were rushed to hospital Monday with breathing problems in the southern Australian state of Victoria as emergency services struggled to cope.

                                          *   *   *   *   *   *
The following is yesterday’s (27 Nov.,2016) FOX NEWS – Health: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/11/27/death-toll-from-australias-thunderstorm-asthma-reaches-6.html 

Death toll from Australia's thunderstorm asthma reaches 6

*   *   *   *   *   *

(Those who know what asthma is, can skip this part of the article, to save your time; and those who wish to know more on this can retrieve it through the URL that follows the heading):

Lab Tests Online (April 6, 2013) provides the following explanation

http://www.labtestsonline.org.au/learning/index-of-conditions/asthma?gclid=Cj0KEQiAperBBRDfuMf72sr56fIBEiQAPFXszQEiDktm7 LO3bkIJ8xCehyp4W86Rqv84Gtohy8t-YbsaAkRf 8P8HAQ 

Asthma is a chronic (long term) inflammatory lung disease which leads to constriction of the airways…

… muscular tubes … carry air throughout the lungs, transporting it to and from smaller airway branches called bronchioles. With asthma, the walls of the bronchi are inflamed and swollen which narrows the airway and makes it more difficult to breathe, resulting in wheezing, breathlessness, or coughing…

Australia has a high prevalence of asthma, up to 1 in 6 children and 1 in 10 adults are affected. The condition is associated with towns and cities. ASTHMA IS NOT CURRENTLY CURABLE … (Dr. Palani: You will find a possible cure for it below, in this article of mine).

… The exact cause of asthma is unknown, it is a complicated mix of genetics, the environment and other factors…

... Medicines such as beta-blockers, aspirin and ibuprofen can trigger attacks. Sulphites found in wine and dried fruit and infections can cause episodes of asthma in some people…

*   *   *   *   *   *

The above stories sadden me a great deal!

That prompts me to put up this article, based on my 41 years of research in the area of Ecological Healing System (or, ‘EcoTherapy’ for short) – a scientific complementary therapy I have discovered, so that people worldwide – Australia included, need not die of any kind of Asthma attacks anymore! 

In this regard, I wrote a book entitled “Asthma, Bronchitis, Cough, Sneezing & Sweating” (2001. Ecohealth Sdn.Bhd., Malaysia. ISBN 978-967-9988-09-0. 146pp.) 

Even before I proceed to tackle the current problem in Australia and a few more countries, let me just highlight a few important information that should prove very useful to you for the understanding and eradication of the disease: (This should form a ‘must’ read!): 

Excerpts from the above book:

Table-2: Other diseases associated with asthma. (Note: these are information obtained from people of the tropical countries)

• Asthmatics tend to feel their body is very heaty (due to hyper acidosis of the body – not temperaturewise).  
• 
  
• They tend to have frequent cough 
• 
  
•   Almost all the asthmatics tend to have a ROUND face (not angular or linear). 
• 
  
• All of them tend to sweat profusely (hyperhidrosis) 
• 
  
• Most of the asthmatics tend to have a skin disease called Ringworm. 
• 
  
• They tend to have plenty of wax and ear-itch in their ears. 
• 
  
• They will also be having scalp itch 
• 
  
• They tend to have severe hair dropping 
• 
  
• Their tongue surface tends to have thick deposit of plaque. 
• 
  
• They tend to have headaches often 
• 
  
• They tend to have gastric problems, mostly indigestion 
• 
  
• Their body weight tends to increase 
• 
  
• They tend to suffer from insomnia 
• 
  
• Women with asthma tend to have erratic menses. 
• 
  
• +++ a few more are included in the table.

·         (The cause / relationship for each of the above is explained in the book)

‘BAD HABITS’ (of Malaysias) that become pre-disposing risk factors for the development of asthma or bronchitis.  These may differ from country to country: 

• The asthmatics tend to use fan at high speed all the time. 
• 
  
• They tend to under-urinate (2 or 3 times per day) 
• 
  
• They practice ‘bad’ eating habit (they swallow food rapidly without chewing, etc.) 
• 
  
• They prefer to eat high density food (that does not contain much water). 
• 
  
• They tend to consume milk prepared from powdered milk. 
• 
  
• They tend to drink less water. 
• 
  
• They use mosquito poisons (sprays, fumes from coils, etc.) daily night in their bedrooms. 
• IMPORTANTLY: They tend to sleep in bedrooms with all windows closed, with a view to preventing mosquito entry. That increases the RH (the moisture content of the air inside the bedroom) manifold.
• They tend to COVER their FACE (nose) with a blanket. When they do this, the tend to breath out moist air from the lungs, and they inhale back the same moist air from within the blanket. (When they do so, more moisture and LESS oxygen enter the lungs.)
• 
  
• + + + a few more can be read in the book.

·          (The above information is based on statistically-treated data)

          *   *   *   *   *   *

Excerpts from Chapter-4:

• Who gets asthma? When, why, and how do they get them?        All those who habitually under-urinate (with the exception of those who drink extremely little fluid), to the extent of allowing profuse sweat called hyperhidrosis to occur in them, will invariably be prone to asthma attacks, along with one or more of the closely associated diseases.   
• In hyperhidrosis, when the sweat evaporates, it chills the skin surface. 
• External air containing plenty of moisture enters the lungs, and that moisture condenses* there. 
• (* This is similar to condensation of the moisture on the inner side of the glass windows and screen of a car when cold rain pours over the exterior. Same phenomenon occurs when we keep ice water in a glass – air-borne moisture condenses on the outer side of the glass.) 
• Those droplets block the breathing holes called alveoli. 
• When air penetrates forcibly though the blocked alveoli (while inhaling and exhaling), it produces the wheezing noise, and also makes breathing difficult. 
• In some countries / regions, the air may contain plenty of moisture.  In some others, it tends to be dry, with very little moisture. (This is called the Relative Humidity - RH). 
• In Malaysia, an RH of 95% is common during late nights and early mornings. This is the major reason why there are too many asthmatics in Malaysia. 
• When the asthma-prone people go to highlands, or to any country where the RH is very low, they do not get the attack at all – even if that environment is heavily filled with pollen grains and dusts.   
• If and when the air contains only moisture, the asthma-prone people would develop only the wheezing problem. This is so because, the blocking water droplets would still permit some amount of air to pass through the breathing holes. 
• If the moisture-containing air carries in it pollen grains, carpet dust, asbestos particles, industrial emissions such as  unburnt coal, sulphur dioxide,  traffic-related pollutants such as dusts, diesel emissions, unburnt oil particles, etc.,), then the blockages can become impenetrable to air. 
• As a result, the oxygen-carrying air may not be able to enter into the lungs, and that alone can result in instant death. 
• To prevent the death, the brain / the sympathetic nervous system induces cough, and that clears the holes for the air-exchange – only if the condensates are ‘movable’. 
• When intense condensation of water droplets repeatedly flood and block the alveoli, the brain too creates repeated cough – resulting in ‘nagging cough’. 
• Thus, the rate, intensity and frequency of the cough (and the asthma attack itself) should be directly proportional to the sum of

o   (a) rate of condensation,

o   (b) quantity of moisture condensed,

o   (c) its viscosity (due to the pollutants in the moist air, such as unburnt oils and coal),

o   (d) the irritability of the moisture condensate (due to dissolved chemical pollutants, and

o   (e) other allergens.

      The above knowledge shows that the best asthma prevention method should consist of PREVENTION OF PROFUSE SWEATING by INCREASING THE URINATION.

If the outer body surface does not get chilled, then the air-borne moisture will NOT get condensed within the lungs, and the asthma attack (or even the cough) will never happen.

Still in Chapter 4:

Rate of Condensation of Water in the Alveoli

Two different conditions appear to determine the rate of water  condensation:

(a) the conduciveness of the lung’s internal micro-environment, and

(b) the abundance of air-borne moisture (i.e., the level of RH).

• The body of a person who drinks plenty of water (and therefore under-urinates) will perspire excessively compared to the one who drinks  little water. 
• The internal lung environment will be more conducive for water condensation in the former person compared to the latter.
• The rate of water condensation will be plentiful in a location where the air is very moist (high RH, e.g., 90%) compared to the one with dry air (low RH, e.g., 20%).  
• When it rains, the RH would go even to 100%, which can be disastrous to the Asthma-prone people. (The same would happen in bedrooms with windows closed.) 
• This would mean that, even if a person grossly under-urinates after drinking plenty of water, but is living in an environment that has very dry air (with a very low RH of e.g. 10%), the person will not get any asthma attack (or cough) even if he is prone to it since long. 
• Likewise, the reverse should also be true.  
• That is, even if there is plenty of moisture in the air (e.g., 95% RH), if the person does not suffer from hyperhidrosis, meaning that he urinates nearly all the water he drinks, or, he drinks extremely little water*, then, he too would not develop any asthma attack (and also the cough associated with it).  In this case, we simply label the person ‘healthy’. 
• (* NOTE: Drinking little water leads to MORBID OBESITY, with several major life-threatening diseases such as cancer, kidney failure, heart diseases, etc. See: Palaniappan, V.M. 2008.The True Causes of All Diseases. ISBN 978-967-9988-13-0. 192pp) 
• In other words, asthma is not an inherited disease.   A person born to asthmatic parents need not develop asthma for certain. 
• If a mother happens to be UNDER-URINATING, AFTER DRINKING PLENTY OF WATER, then, she tends to raise her children the same way – that is, she would train them to drink plenty of water, and would NOT train them urinate liberally. That will make them prone to be asthmatic. We tend to mislabel that as hereditary. 
• At the same time, a person born to healthy parents can develop asthma if he drinks plenty of water and under-urinates, and lives in a polluted environment where the RH is very high, and sleeps in a bedroom with all the windows
• Often, hill stations tend to have cool and dry air, with a low RH. In addition, the air-borne pollutants too may be absent. 
• Therefore, if an asthma-prone patient were to live in a hill station, he may not get acute attacks. 

Danger Caused by the Viscosity of the Condensate in the Lungs:

• Water is least viscous and light weighted.  
• 
  
• When soluble or insoluble substances (e.g., oil) and particle pollutants get mixed in it, its viscosity and weight will increase, and would also turn sticky. 
• 
  
• These will make the expulsion of the condensate from the alveoli more difficult, necessitating a harder and more forceful cough. 
• 
  
• If the condensates happen to be excessively thick that even severe coughs cannot remove them, then oxygen supply would get severely impeded, resulting in suffocation, which when continues, would result in the death of the person.    

      Irritability of the Condensate at the Lungs 

• Pure water is not an irritable substance.  
• 
  
• But when combined with strong acid or alkaline pollutants, it gets irritability to varying ranges.  
• 
  
• Such a water condensate will narrow the airway by causing inflammation of the tissues.
• 
  
• The above would increase the cough and asthma attack manifold, depending upon the intensity of such an inflammation. (Cough and Sneezing: both seem to occur for more or less the same purpose: that is, to clear the blocked lungs. If we sneeze over the mirror, we can see hundreds of tiny droplets on the mirror - and all these should be from the lungs, and not the saliva from the mouth. Water condensation at the nasal passage - as it happens in Sinusitis, appears to be giving rise to sneezes.)
• 
  
• This is another important reason why the Melbourne or any other city-dwellers suffer from acute attacks.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Excerpts from Chapter 5:

Identification of People Susceptible to Asthma Attacks:  

• I have already explained above that ALL those who sweat profusely are the ones who would get alveoli blockages, and thereby asthma. 
• 
  
• Those who drink plenty of water and under-urinate are the ones who would sweat profusely. 
• 
  
• If a person drinks ABUNDANT water (e.g., >4 L daily), and under-urinates (say, about 3L), then, the remaining water would form the profuse sweat.
• 
  
• In this case, the person would have a SKELETAL-LOOKING*, very thin body frame (because of the severe losses of nutrients through the excessive urinations).       (* See Palaniappan, V.M. 1998. Obesity: Causes, Cure, and Prevention. ISBN 978-967-9988-05-8. 471pp.). 
• 
  
• His excessive sweat production may make him an asthma patient.  
• 
  
• However, since his water consumption is very high, his body fluids are bound to be THIN (and not viscous). 
• 
  
• As a result, such skeletal-looking thin people tend to cough frequently, rather than getting acute attacks and related deaths.  
• 
  
• The THIN people almost never die of asthma attacks. 
• 
  
• A person drinking less water (e.g., 1 L/day), and under-urinates (say, 200 ml), would still sweat profusely. 
• 
  
• Due to his under-urination habit, he would become obese (see Palaniappan, 1998), and of course, would sweat profusely. 
• 
  
• Because of the REDUCED water consumption, his body fluids (similar to his blood becoming thick) tend to become highly viscous. 
• 
  
• The viscous fluid tends to create ‘tight’ blockages of the alveoli. 
• 
  
• Covering the face with a thick blanket while sleeping enhances inhalation of the moist exhaled air, and that tends to enhance the alveoli blockages as well.
• 
  
• 
  
• Such a condition, besides giving rise to severe cough, would make him an easy target for acute attacks and related death.

Excerpts from Chapter-6:

THE STORY OF ASTHMA FROM BIRTH TO DEATH. 

(This forms the most beneficial chapter of all):

Birth of a baby and related problems: 

• The new-born baby is wrapped around with the use of a warm cloth. 
• 
  
• In addition, the infant may also be worn with a TIGHT napkin (or diapers). 
• 
  
• When an infant (or even a grown-up baby) is worn with a tight napkin, he/she* stops liberal urination.
• 
  
• Vianna, E.O., Kraft, M, and Martin, R.I. (1997: Airway Diseases: In Pulmonary/ Respiratory Therapy Secrets, Pub: Jay Pee Brothers:  pp 91-95), have found that the male children are more prone to asthma than the girls.)  
• 
  
• The tight napkin only encourages the child to withhold the urinal pressure. 
• 
  
• That makes the baby to produce excessive sweat. 
• 
  
• However, babies kept in a cool environment (air-conditioned or otherwise) does not show off the sweat: it is called ‘insensible perspiration. 
• 
  
• Yet, the body (skin) surface of the baby becomes chill, in spite of the warm cloth wrapping. 
• 
  
• As long as the baby is kept in a DEHYDRATED air-conditioned room, the baby does not develop cough, bronchitis or asthma, cough. 
• 
  
• This is so because, only the DRY air would enter into the lungs of baby.
• 
  
• However, if the child is brought out to be in a natural environment (e.g., bedroom with open windows), the baby would start inhaling the ‘natural’ air. 
• 
  
• If and when the bedroom windows are kept closed for the prevention of mosquitoes for instance, the moisture inside the room increases manifold, and makes things worse.
• 
  
• If the air contains plenty of moisture (high RH), then the under-urinating baby’s body and skin surface would turn chill due to the evaporation of the sweat, and that would then enhance water condensation at the lungs.
• 
  
• This would then give rise to nagging cough, wheezing, breathing difficulties, bronchitis and/or asthma. 
• 
  
• Under-urinating, over-sweating babies with bronchitis or asthma tend to become over-weight, with a round face (See Palaniappan, 1998). 
• 
  
• I have found babies raised in relatively under-developed countries do not get bronchitis or asthma.
• 
  
• To a great degree, this can be attributed to the liberal urination habits of children due to NOT wearing tight napkins.

          ASTHMA IN SCHOOL-GOING CHILDREN:  

Children raised with tight napkins and diapers while being infants  would  have already developed

                o   (a) a habit for under-urination, and

                o   (b) a regularised pattern of hyperhidrosis. 

    Classes are held for long hours. When interval occurs, the children would prefer to play around at eat at the canteens, rather than spending the time waiting in the queue in the toilet area.

Such a practice makes them under-urinate, which in turn makes them to sweat profusely.

Such a condition worsens when they play running around.

These make them get bronchitis and/or asthma.

ASTHMA IN THE GROWN-UP PEOPLE

• People working in offices tend to under-urinate because of the over-indulgence in their works + the air-conditioner tends to dehydrate their body, thus reducing the urinal pressure. 
• 
  
• People working in factories are discouraged from going to toilet frequently. They then learn to withhold their urinal pressure. 
• 
  
• Pregnant women find it cumbersome to frequent the toilet, and therefore tend to withhold their urge for urination. This gives them PREGNANCY DIABETES (also called Gestational Diabetes) (See Palaniappan, V.M., 2011. Diabetes: Causes, Cure and Prevention. ISBN 978-967-9988-15-4. 256pp)  
• 
  
• Elderly people, for want of energy, often refrain from frequenting the toilet, and that tends to make them asthmatic. 
• 
  
• Bed-ridden patients also tend not urinate properly, and that makes them to suffer likewise. It would go worse if they happen to sleep in bedrooms with windows closed, for that would increase the internal moisture, which, when breathed in would enhance water condensation in the lungs.

CURRENT REMEDIAL MEASURES AVAILABLE FOR THE ASTHMATICS: 

*  Two types of medicines appear to be in use for the treatment of asthma: 

*  Anti-inflammatory drugs: These help reduce inflammation in the airways + mucous production. These are mostly corticosteroids. 

*  Bronchodilators: these help relax the muscles of airways, and open them for easy air-flow. 

*  More information on this can be read from the following URLs:

http://info.dogpile.com/dogpl.305.05/search/web?q=latest+treatment+of+asthma&ad.network=g&ad.keyword=latest%20treatment%20of%20asthma&ad.creative=90703182751&ad.position=1t2&ad.placement=&ad.matchtype=b&ad.aceid=&ad.ismobile=&ad.device=c&ad.devicemodel=&ad.adgroupid=26202286591&cid=366747751&ad.segment=dogpl.305.05

                  Or

https://www.mysymbicort.com/asthma/about-asthma/asthma-treatment-options.html?source=SYM_C_C_301&WT.mc_id=SYM_C_C_301&umedium=paidsearch&uadpub=bing&ucampaign=asthma%20-%20treatment&ucreative=asthma%20-%20treatment&uplace=treatment%20of%20asthma

*   We should of course remember that both the above two do NOT CURE the disease. They help the patient live comfortably by suppressing the symptoms.

MY METHOD FOR THE PREVENTION & CURE OF ASTHMA:

(© 2001, 2016: Palaniappan, V.M.) 

• Condensation of air-borne moisture in the breathing holes of the lungs should be prevented. 
• To do that, profuse sweating that occurs due to under-urination should be prevented.
• One should practice and develop the habit of urinating once every two hours while awake. This will stop profuse sweating.
• One should avoid drinking far too much of water (e.g., >2 L may not be good). 
• If a person takes a shower using bot water at very high temperatures, he/she would sweat profusely AFTER the shower. This would then promote hyperhidrosis for rest of the day, even if the person happens to cool down under a fan or an air-conditioner. Therefore, only lukewarm / tepid water should be used for bathing purposes. 
• As a rule, all asthma-prone people should avoid doing sweat-producing exercises.
• Asthma-prone people should AVOID drinking VERY HOT coffee, tea, and other beverages, for that would induce profuse sweating.
• 
  
• They should keep at least one window open while they sleep by night.
• 
  
• They should NOT cover their face with thick blanket while asleep.

• They can choose to live in a place where the AIR is dry, with LOW Relative Humidity (RH). 


• The Air-Conditioners dehydrate and dehumidify the air. It may even keep off the air-borne particle pollutants. (Yet, use of air-conditioners in bedrooms may not be good, since that tends to make people obese. See: Palaniappan, 1998.) 
• Live in a place where there are NO air-borne pollutants. 
• Living in pollution-free / traffic-free villages would help a great deal. 
• Living in the midst of trees and bushes (even if they happen to disseminate pollen grains) would help substantially. 
• Use of Air-Purifiers should prove very useful. (At least one window in their bedroom should be kept open for purposed reducing the moisture inside.)
• Using air-conditioners may help to some extent, since they dehumidify (dehydrate) the air. This should be considered only as a temporary measure, for if a person sleeps with air-conditioner on, then, he/she would end up promoting hyperhidrosis (For more details, please see my book on asthma.)


• One should gradually learn to sleep in a bedroom with windows open and fan switched off. Use of fan at fast speed while asleep would also promote hyperhidrosis. (See my Asthma book for explanations.)
  
  
• Use of TISSUE PAPERS (that emit irritating chemical-containing dust particles) should be totally avoided.
• IF ALL THE ABOVE ARE STRICTLY CARRIED OUT FOR A MINIMUM PERIOD OF ABOUT 2 MONTHS, THE VICTIM MAY COME OUT OF THE PROBLEM, MORE OR LESS PERMANENTLY.


• HOWEVER, LONG-TERM CHRONIC PATIENTS MAY HAVE TO PRACTICE ALL THE ABOVE FOR ANOTHER MONTH OR TWO FOR A FULL RECOVERY.

     Excerpts from Chapter 8:

Prevention of the Associated Diseases:

·        A cure for chronic cough:

Once the hyperhidrosis stops, water-logging in the lungs would cease, and that would stop the coughs.

·        A cure for headaches:

Once breathing problem stops, adequate oxygen supply would resume, and that would prevent the headaches.

·        +++ Curative procedures for all of the associated diseases are given.

EMERGENCY HELP FOR THE ASTHMATICS*:
(© 2001, 2016: Dr. V.M.Palaniappan)

(* Kindly read the Indemnification note towards the end of this article. In case of misadventure, I should not be held responsible for any undesirable outcome.)

·        Since ACUTE asthma attacks are the results of TOTAL BLOCKAGE of the breathing holes in the lungs    by the thick, viscous WATER condensates, the mere REMOVAL of the WATER from the lungs would provide INSTANT RELIEF to the patient.

This can be achieved almost instantly (within few seconds) by making the patient BREATH IN HOT AIR FROM A HAIR DRIER.

The hair-drier should be held at a comfortable distance of about 20 cm or so. (If held too close, and if the inhaled air is too hot, then some amount of tissue damage may occur. This should be avoided.)

The patient should feel comfortable to inhale the HOT AIR, and that must be continued non-stop for a few minutes – say, 3 minutes or so. Even worst suffocations would ease within a minute or so.

I have successfully used this method I developed on numerous asthma patients to save them from severe attacks. I have never failed.

·        If a hairdryer is not available, inhaling the hot air that arises from a stove in the kitchen too should prove useful.

·        If an Infra-Red Lamp (that is used for a relief of muscular pain, back pain, etc.) is available, that too can be used for the purpose of drying up the lung’s blockages. 

The lamp should be held at a distance of about 30 or 40 cm, and the hot air should be inhaled.

While doing this the eyes must be protected from the rays properly. Alternatively, the lamp can be held in a lateral position to the face, rather than a frontal exposure.

Since the heat from the red rays can burn the tender nasal tissues, the lamp should be held at a distance so that it would not incur any tissue damage.

It may take about 3 – 5 minutes or so before finding a relief through this method.

·        For this purpose, even a table lamp with a normal heat-producing bulb can be used to heat up the inhaled air.

·        Standing under a hot sun in a tropical country also may prove useful for such a dehydration of the lung fluids.

·        If the patient happens to be in a cold winter, sitting close to the fire place should prove useful in the drying up of the lung fluid.

*   *   *   *   *   *

At this point, after having understood the causes and cures for Asthma in the tropical countries, let us now try to deal with the current problem the Australians are facing:

Ref; THE DEATH OF SIX PEOPLE IN MELBOURNE DUE TO THE THUNDERSTORM ASTHMA. 

In the first place, thunderstorms are often associated with rainfall. When it rains, and also for a while AFTER the rain, the air is bound to be moist. 

Melbourne is second largest city in Australia: with lots and lots of vehicles and industries of all kinds emitting a wide variety of pollutants (that can irritate the lung tissues and cause inflammation)– enhancing the floating of acid substances, toxic dusts, unburnt oil droplets and coal particles in the air.

Sunshine seems to occur for 9 hours daily in Melbourne now, and the temperature ranges from 12 – 22^oC. These two may not have any direct influence over the asthma attacks.

About 57 mm of rain has fallen during 12 days in November. (Ref: HOLIDAY WEATHER.COM: http://www.holiday-weather.com/melbourne/averages/ november/)  

The rain abundance as such may not mean anything much. 

On the other hand, if the rain lasts for long durations - even as drizzle, that would keep the air moist for prolonged hours, thus increasing the water condensation potentials within the lungs.

During DAY time, under normal circumstances, the ‘heated’ particle pollutants tend to go upward from the ground level, and by late night and early mornings, the air tends to be HEAVY and MOIST with high Relative Humidity (RH), and therefore, tend to go down to ground level.

However, the current highest temperature in Melbourne is only  22^oC (72^oF), and this may not be enough to heat up the pollutants or evaporate the air-borne moisture to drive them upward. Hence, the air with ALL the particle pollutants, moist, sticky and heavy, tend to be at the ground or chest level all throughout the 24 hours. 

The RH in Melbourne appears to be about 68% in the mornings and 52% in the afternoons*. These readings should be considered relatively harmless. However, if the windows are kept closed, then the internal RH reading tends to shoot up to much higher levels.

By Malaysian standards, this cannot be considered high. Yet, based on the differences between the two readings, the air in the mornings appear to more moist and HEAVY with 68%.

This must be the same during the nights as well. That should mean that most of the pollutants (in this season, at all times) should be at chest level only, thus triggering at least milder forms of asthma attacks, wheezing, or bronchitis.  (* Ref: Average Humidity in Australian Cities - Current Results: https://www.currentresults.com/ Weather/Australia/ Cities/humidity-annual-average.php)   

However, this particular disaster appears to have occurred at a time when it was heavily raining in Melbourne*, with, of course, the thunderstorm. Therefore, the RH of the ambient atmosphere must have gone up even to 95 or 100%.

(* Foxnews Health: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/11/27/death-toll-from-australias-thunderstorm-asthma-reaches-6.html) 

It appears that the Asthmatics in Melbourne seem to be inhaling into their lungs abundant, highly viscous and oil-containing particle pollutants whenever it drizzles (or rains). 

Based on my explanations in the first part of this article, it is quiet probable that those six people who died of asthma now, must have been either obese people or at least slightly over-weight, and NOT thin or skeletal people.

Further, THEY MUST HAVE BEEN SUFFERING FROM SWEATY PALMS AND FEET (due to hyperhidrosis, resulting from under-urination) ALL THE TIME. That must have made them susceptible to alveoli failures. 

Further, these victims must have, most probably, been doing some sweat-out physical exercises in the OPEN (e.g., jogging), or even over a treadmill within shelters on the said Monday, during which time they could have inhaled the ‘spoilt’ moist air that chocked them to death. 

Their sweat must have chilled their outer body, and the 95% (?) moisture from the air they breathed in must have condensed in their lungs, causing something almost similar to pulmonary oedema – that is, their breathing holes alveoli must have clogged/chocked up, making the air exchange almost impossible. This must have resulted in their death. 

If those people stayed indoors, and if they did NOT do any physical exercise to the extent of producing profuse sweat over their body, they would not have had the massive and acute attack.  

While staying indoors, they could have kept all the windows in their bedroom closed, especially while asleep by night, allowing the accumulation of moisture to a dangerous RH level. 

Further, if those people had read my book on Asthma which I have referred here, they could have avoided the mishap.

Alternatively, they could have saved themselves by inhaling hot air from their hair driers.

(Most scientists tend to blame the dispersal of pollen grains as well as the fungal spores. I am of the firm opinion that these two do NOT seem to be the causative factors for triggering or intensifying asthma attacks.

Any relationship found between the onset of asthma and floating spore an pollen particles should only be minimal and insignificant, and for want of proper explanation, people tend to attribute this as the causative factor for the problem.) 

MY SUGGESTION TO ALL MELBOURNE RESIDENTS AND OTHER PLACES (such as USA, Canada, Russia, Britain, and Italy, where similar incidents are said to have occurred) PRONE TO THUNDERSTORM ASTHMA:

• Of course, be in close touch with hospitals to overcome any emergency need. 
• Drink at least 2 L water daily. 
• Void urine once every two hours while awake. (More, the better) (NEVER, NEVER withhold your urge for urination. The moment you feel like voiding urine, you must void - never postpone.)
• Do not do sweat-producing exercises when the environment is moist, especially during rains.
• Avoid taking HOT showers, especially in the evenings, using HOT water at VERY HIGH TEMPERATURES. (Using tepid / lukewarm water should be OK.) (Your body should NOT sweat after the shower. If it does, it may mean that the water you used was very hot.)
• Better to avoid taking showers when it rains, or immediately after a rain.
• Avoid drinking a VERY HOT drink when the air is moist, for the sweat produced (because of the drink) would promote water condensation in your lungs.
• 
  
• Do not prevent ventilation: Avoid moisture build-up inside the house/bedroom. (Cold air contains more oxygen, and hot air has less. So, dry and cold environment should be OK).
• 
  
• Better to use an AIR DEHUMIDIFIER, especially if you happen to be prone to asthma. (Never use a HUMIDIFIER - this one will increase the humidity of the internal air, and cause more damage to asthma-prone people.)
• 
  
• Keep a hair-drier ready for use, in case of emergency choke-ups. 
• 
  
• It should prove useful to read this article a few times to understand all aspects of this disease.

*   *   *   *   *   *

OK friends, 

If you have a friend in Australia, you may want to bring his/her attention to this article in this BLOG.

If you have the means, please bring this to the attention of all authorities in your country and also those linked to WHO.

After all, our sole intention is to save all humans from any of this kind of mishaps.

(It appears that the second part of the Diabetes article I promised of writing will have to wait for some time. 

Reason: It occurred to me that THIS article must be done immediately for the benefit of people in Australia.)

With best wishes and thanks for reading this article.

If can, may I request my friends to share this article in their Facebook accounts, and the like.

Dr. Palani, Ph.D.

WARNING & DISCLAIMER

In the medical world (although it is said that there is no cure for asthma so far), a wide variety of help are available for the asthmatics.

In case of emergencies or otherwise, every patient is strongly requested to seek the help of a Registered Medical Practitioner for solving his/her health problem of any kind.

I am a Research Scientist, with a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences / Ecology, and I do not have a degree or training in the practice of Allopathic / Western medicine.

I have been communicating/ conveying all my ecologically-oriented research findings/ discoveries to the World Health Organisation (WHO) officials – the Director General Dr. Margaret Chan and 17 other Regional Directors - since three years, and am anxiously awaiting for their response, recognition and approval.

Until my findings are recognized and approved by WHO, every Reader of this article (as well as all others who may visit / read this BLOG) should consider this as information meant only for the furtherance of research works.

However, if you wish to use any of these ideas / techniques at your own risk, as per prevailing Law, you should first get the approval of your Registered Medical Practitioner.

In cases of misadventures, I should not be held responsible in any manner whatsoever for any possible mishaps.