Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 3
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
About 13 percent of Iranians have asthma, Rasoul Nasiri, secretary of the Regional Asthma and Allergy conference which held in Iran's western city of Sanandaj said on Oct. 2, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Nasiri expressed concern over alarming increase of asthma in the country, saying that various factors such as dust, air pollution, cigarette smoke, chemicals and detergents are effective in asthma and allergies prevalence in the country.
Earlier Ebrahim Razi professor of Iran's University of Medical Sciences warned that about 35 percent of children in Tehran province have asthma or various allergies.
Annually, some 1,650 million metric tons of pollutants gather in the air in Tehran.
Heavy dust storms also shroud repeatedly certain western and southwestern provinces of Iran, making breathing difficult for people.
Health officials have been warning about the aggravation of respiratory diseases and advised the elderly and children to stay indoors
Experts say the dust storms descend on Iran from the deserts and dried-up ponds of Iraq and Saudi Arabia.