Authorities urging asthma and hay fever sufferers to be vigilant

With the thunderstorm asthma season underway authorities in Victoria are cautioning asthma and hay fever sufferers to be vigilant.

Transcript

00:00It's a very particular type of condition that causes these events.

00:06We're talking about pollen in the air.

00:09It's linked to a particular type of grass, rye grass, as well as very certain weather

00:14conditions.

00:15So things like thunderstorms are a cool change in the weather with high winds.

00:20Now those winds pick up the pollens, essentially they break them down into small particles

00:25and those small particles are what you breathe in and essentially cause these asthma conditions.

00:32Now authorities are warning that this year it is a bit of an average at the moment thunderstorm

00:38asthma season that we're expecting, but it's really dependent on the next couple of weeks

00:42and months even in terms of what the weather does and that could essentially change that

00:48prediction.

00:49So here's a little bit of what the BOM had to say earlier today.

00:52The conditions out there, the soil moisture's quite dry, so there hasn't been as much grass

00:58growth as previous years, but if we do see an increase in rainfall in the next, you know,

01:03few weeks, month, then we could be heading towards a more normal amount of grass growth

01:11and so therefore a slightly higher than average thunderstorm asthma risk season.

01:17So the advice to people, particularly those who suffer asthma and hay fever, is to book

01:21in and see your GP now to make sure that you have a plan in place.

01:25If you need any sort of asthma puffer or medication you can get that under control.

01:29Make sure you're doing that early and don't wait for these high risk days.

01:33At the moment today it's a green day, it's a relatively low risk day, but you can keep

01:37on top of the alerts via the Vic emergency app or website.

01:42They usually have a three day rolling forecast so that you can see what the risk levels are

01:47and make sure you are keeping your medication on you.

01:51The best advice on those high risk days for people who do suffer asthma or hay fever is

01:55to stay indoors.

01:56Now we do remember back in 2016 there was that extremely bad thunderstorm asthma event

02:02where 10 people died and thousands of others were impacted and had difficulties breathing.

02:07So this is something that the health authorities are taking very seriously.

02:11They're reminding people to stay vigilant, make sure you do book in that GP appointment

02:15and you are prepared in case there is a high risk day.