Bush-fire smoke linked to hundreds of deaths

Bush-fire smoke linked to hundreds of deaths

400 deaths from bushfire smoke in Australia

Thick smoke from Australia’s devastating bushfire season is estimated to have killed more than 400 people. Several thousand more people ended up in hospital with respiratory or heart problems linked to the haze. Bushfire smoke affected almost 80% of the country’s 25 million people between October and late January, reveals the first study to examine the health effects of the blazes. Thirty-three people were killed in incidents directly related to the fires.

Nature | 2 min readReference: The Medical Journal of Australia paper