Lombardo Daniele, Ciancio Nicola, Campisi Raffaele, Di Maria Annalisa, Bivona Laura, Poletti Venerino, Mistretta Antonio, Biggeri Annibale, Di Maria Giuseppe
Pulmonology Unit, A,O,U, Policlinico-Vittorio Emanuele, Catania, Italy.
Multidiscip Respir Med. 2013 Aug 7;8(1):51. doi: 10.1186/2049-6958-8-51.
Mount Etna, located in the eastern part of Sicily (Italy), is the highest and most active volcano in Europe. During the sustained eruption that occurred in October-November 2002 huge amounts of volcanic ash fell on a densely populated area south-east of Mount Etna in Catania province. The volcanic ash fall caused extensive damage to infrastructure utilities and distress in the exposed population. This retrospective study evaluates whether or not there was an association between ash fall and acute health effects in exposed local communities.
We collected the number and type of visits to the emergency department (ED) for diseases that could be related to volcanic ash exposure in public hospitals of the Province of Catania between October 20 and November 7, 2002. We compared the magnitude of differences in ED visits between the ash exposure period in 2002 and the same period of the previous year 2001.
We observed a significant increase of ED visits for acute respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and ocular disturbances during the ash exposure time period.
There was a positive association between exposure to volcanic ash from the 2002 eruption of Mount Etna and acute health effects in the Catania residents. This study documents the need for public health preparedness and response initiatives to protect nearby populations from exposure to ash fall from future eruptions of Mount Etna.
埃特纳火山位于意大利西西里岛东部，是欧洲最高且最活跃的火山。在2002年10月至11月持续喷发期间，大量火山灰降落在埃特纳火山东南部卡塔尼亚省人口密集地区。火山灰降落对基础设施造成了广泛破坏，并给受影响民众带来了困扰。这项回顾性研究评估了火山灰降落与受影响当地社区急性健康影响之间是否存在关联。
我们收集了2002年10月20日至11月7日期间卡塔尼亚省公立医院急诊科因可能与火山灰暴露相关疾病的就诊人数及类型。我们比较了2002年火山灰暴露期间与2001年同期急诊科就诊差异的幅度。
我们观察到在火山灰暴露时间段内，急性呼吸道和心血管疾病以及眼部不适的急诊科就诊人数显著增加。
2002年埃特纳火山喷发的火山灰暴露与卡塔尼亚居民的急性健康影响之间存在正相关。本研究证明了需要开展公共卫生防范和应对举措，以保护附近居民免受未来埃特纳火山喷发火山灰降落的影响。
