Dung Lung: Reactive Airway Disease Syndrome From Yak-Dung Biomass Fuel Smoke

A 30-year-old man without prior respiratory illness presented with coughing, wheezing, dyspnea on exertion, and decreased exercise tolerance after a 7-hour overnight exposure to yak-dung smoke. This episode took place at 4,240 m elevation in Pheriche village, along the Everest Base Camp trekking route within the Khumbu region of the Nepali Himalayas. Prior to going to bed that evening, the group of five cohabitants had a difficult time igniting the potbelly heating stove filled with yak-dung biomass fuel in the common room. Each time they tried to light it, the fire would smolder and go out within a few minutes, despite the group's attempts at adjusting the flue and air intake. Eventually, they abandoned A 30-year-old man presented with coughing, wheezing, dyspnea on exertion, and decreased exercise tolerance following an overnight exposure to biomass fuel smoke.