[h=1]Robert R. Jarrett M.D. M.B.A. FAAP[/h] [h=2]
Respiratory Hazards of Wood Stoves[/h] March 20, 2015
What do pilgrim and pioneer children have in common with aborigines in the highlands of New Guinea, hamsters, and some children living in "progressive" homes of today?
The answer? A respiratory condition which had gone away but which has just recently been ?rediscovered?; namely, recurrent pneumonia, cough, and wheezing which does not seem to be associated with infectious illness.
The problem we are talking about is with wood stoves. They were necessary, basically designed and ubiquitous; then they went away and took the pollution and chronic respiratory disease with them. Now that they are making a comeback, so are the respiratory issues they caused which we had forgotten about.
Dr. Richard E. Honicky M.D. was one of the first to re-describe the respiratory hazards of these increasingly more common heating devices.
He found a three-month old infant who developed severe respiratory symptoms as soon as the family began using a wood stove as a primary heat source ? recurrent pneumonia, cough, and wheezing which was not caused by the medical problems commonly thought of.
