Environmental Influences on Respiratory Infection

The respiratory system is remarkably resilient to environmental change and so there are few dramatic associations between the natural environment and infection. Viral infections are much more common in cold, dry conditions and bacterial zoonoses are defined by the zoonotic niche. The effects of air pollution from household, industrial and transport sources as well as tobacco smoke are the most significant environmental threats today. Air pollution is associated with small lungs at birth, early life infections, chronic lung damage and shortened lifespan –urgent control measures are needed as adaptation and prophylaxis will not deal with this hazard.