Table 1.

Previously reported thunderstorm asthma events (since 1980)*

Location	Month, year	Season	No of patients affected after thunderstorm	Duration	Expected No of patients over reported duration	Proposed allergen
Birmingham, UK15	July, 1983	Summer	106 presentations to 8 emergency departments for asthma or other respiratory disorders	48 hours	2-20 a day	Fungal spores
Melbourne, Australia16	November, 1984	Spring	85 presentations to 1 emergency department for asthma	Up to 24 hours	NR	NR
Nottingham, UK17	June, 1984	Summer	19 presentations to 1 emergency department for acute asthma	7 hours	<6 a day	Fungal spores
Melbourne, Australia10	November, 1987	Spring	154 presentations to major emergency departments for asthma	12 hours	26	NR
			22 EMS transports for asthma	12 hours	2
Melbourne, Australia10	November, 1989	Spring	277 presentations to major emergency departments for asthma	12 hours	26	Grass pollen
			44 EMS transports for asthma	12 hours	2
Tamworth, Australia18	November, 1990	Spring	110 presentations to 2 emergency departments for acute asthma	5 days	<5 a day	Grass pollen
			123 GP presentations for acute asthma	5 days	NR
London, UK19 20	June, 1994	Summer	640 emergency department presentations for asthma or airways disease	30 hours	66	Grass pollen
			536 calls for asthma to out-of-hours GP service	48 hours	135
Wagga Wagga, Australia9	October, 1997	Spring	215 presentations to a major emergency department for asthma	36 hours	NR	Grass pollen
Calgary, Canada 13	July, 2000	Summer	157 presentations to 3 emergency departments for asthma or shortness of breath	48 hours	17	Fungal spores, pollen
Cambridge, UK21	July, 2002	Summer	57 emergency department presentations or hospital admissions to 1 hospital for acute asthma	48 hours	NR	Fungal spores
Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia22	November, 2002	Autumn	Spike in emergency department presentations at 1 hospital for acute asthma (exact number not specified)	Up to 24 hours	NR	NR
Melbourne, Australia23	November, 2003	Spring	70 paediatric emergency department presentations for asthma	24 hours	21	Grass pollen
Naples, Italy24	June, 2004	Summer	7 presentations to 1 emergency department for asthma	30 minutes	NR	Pollen
South East England, UK25	June, 2005	Summer	400% increase in calls to NHS Direct for “difficulty breathing” and a 50% increase in GP out-of-hours attendances	Up to 24 hours	NR	NR
Puglia, Italy26	May, 2010	Spring	20 presentations to 1 emergency department for asthma	14 hours	2-3 a day	Olive pollen
Melbourne, Australia7	November, 2010	Spring	<40 presentations to 1 tertiary emergency department	24 hours	<5	Grass pollen
London, UK11	July, 2013	Summer	40 emergency department presentations for asthma/wheeze/difficulty breathing	24 hours	15-20	NR
Ahvas, Iran14	November, 2013	Autumn	Sudden rise in emergency department presentations for acute bronchospasm attacks (exact number not specified)	NR	NR	Air pollution
Melbourne and Geelong, Australia27 28 29	November, 2016	Spring	9909 emergency department presentations to public hospitals; 2973 for respiratory problems; 476 excess asthma related hospital admissions over 30 hours	48 hours	6266 presentations; 453 for respiratory problems	Grass pollen
			313 nurse on-call calls for breathing/respiratory/allergy problems;	24 hours	63
			332 patients with paramedic assessed acute respiratory distress	24 hours	52

^*Includes epidemic thunderstorm asthma events reported in the scientific literature or published reports. Events reported in newspaper articles only are excluded. EMS=emergency medical service; GP=general practitioner; NR=not reported.