Chinese Authorities Report Sudden Outbreak of Thunderstorm Asthma in Multiple Regions

‘Ten minutes after the rain stopped, dozens of children with breathing difficulties rushed into the clinic,’ a local medical worker told The Epoch Times.

Patients line up for an emergency pre-check at the new pediatric building of Xinhua Hospital in Shanghai, China, on the night of Sept. 25, 2023. CFOTO/ file/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Patients suffering from respiratory infections, especially asthma attacks, have soared in at least six provinces and municipalities across mainland China, overwhelming hospital emergency rooms.

Chinese health authorities have attributed the wave of infections to “thunderstorm asthma.”

Since early September, Beijing, Shanxi, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Tianjin, and Hebei provinces have experienced a surge of respiratory patients exhibiting asthma symptoms and requiring emergency room visits, according to Chinese media and local health authorities.

Beijing Municipal Health Commission posted an article on Sept. 16 from Beijing Tsinghua Chang Gung Memorial Hospital titled “Emergency Alert! ‘Thunderstorm Asthma’ is trending! Important Information Needed to Know!”

It said respiratory clinics had “experienced an unexpected surge in visits. ... Many of these patients have symptoms highly associated with a specific type of asthma: ’thunderstorm asthma.'”

Thunderstorm asthma epidemics are rare, occurring only when specific population, meteorological, and environmental factors coincide, according to a 2020 article in the Journal of Asthma and Allergy.

The condition is an acute exacerbation or worsening of bronchial asthma that occurs during or immediately after a thunderstorm. It often occurs during pollen season, such as in spring and summer, and can manifest as a large-scale outbreak of asthma in a localized area. The primary clinical manifestations are coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. In severe cases, thunderstorm asthma can be life-threatening.

The American Heart and Lung Association in 2017 cited occurrences of “thunderstorm asthma” in 1983 in Birmingham, England, and in 1987 in Melbourne, Australia, “when violent thunderstorms and associated high pollen counts seemed to have been connected to a widespread wave of asthma attacks.”

The first known thunderstorm asthma epidemic in China occurred in Yulin, a city in northwest China, on Sept. 11, 2018. It was followed by outbreaks in Ningxia in 2022, Inner Mongolia in 2023, and Chongqing in 2024.

Sudden Outbreak in Multiple Provinces

After a thunderstorm on Sept. 9, emergency departments at several hospitals in Beijing saw a surge of patients presenting with breathing difficulties, according to mainland Chinese media reports. Health authorities linked the sudden outbreak to “thunderstorm asthma.” Similar cases were reported in neighboring Tianjin and Hebei provinces.

A day earlier, the emergency department at Shanxi Bethune Hospital saw a sudden surge in visits, seeing more than 400 asthma patients in just a few hours, the majority of whom were children, pregnant women, and young and middle-aged adults.

A local patient in Shanxi told Epoch Times reporters on Sept. 13 that he experienced asthma symptoms for several days.

“I couldn’t bear it, so I went to the hospital for nebulized oxygen therapy,” said the patient, who didn’t give their name.

More than 500 patients suffering asthma symptoms presented to the emergency department of Dalat Banner People’s Hospital in Inner Mongolia on the night of Sept. 10 after a thunderstorm, according to Chinese state-run media.

A local medical worker, who didn’t give her name due to safety concerns, told The Epoch Times: “I personally experienced it on that day. A thunderstorm mixed with lightning and icy rain lasted for about an hour. Ten minutes after the rain stopped, dozens of children with breathing difficulties rushed into the clinic, all needing emergency nebulization.”

Videos and posts on social media also show that hospitals in the Ninxia region in North-Central China were also packed with many asthma patients on Sept. 12.

Luo Ya contributed to this report.

Correction: A previous version of this article miscited the source for information and a now-deleted quote relating to an outbreak of thunderstorm asthma in Melbourne in 2016. The Epoch Times regrets the error.