• health

• news

Does air pollution affect the corona virus?

Two Israeli researchers have collected data from around the world and found a worrying link between air pollution levels in OECD countries and the level of morbidity and mortality from corona disease.

Here are all the details

Tags

• Corona

• Corona virus

• Air Pollution

Rachel Vox, Angle

Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 7 p.m.

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on general

• Share on general

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

0 comments

• Netanyahu at the beginning of the cabinet meeting discussing the extension of the closure: ...

• China after inspectors banned entry into Wuhan: Saddles ...

• The world's largest vaccination campaign: India has started vaccinating ...

• Israel is a world leader in the vaccination campaign against ...

• Surviving Death

• The Projector: The studies will be opened in a limited way at the stage ...

• The husband of the midwife who fell ill in Corona and is hospitalized in critical condition ...

• Netanyahu: I will enter the government to extend the closure and ...

• How to make a baby take medicine without problems?

• Experts recommend vaccinating women who are planning a pregnancy or ...

• Mother and daughter do pregnancy test together

• Netanyahu: "I would like to add at least two weeks to the closure of the borders" ...

In the video: Elrai Price says we will not reach herd immunity (Photo: Knesset Channel)

Every day we hear about more and more factors influencing the spread of the corona plague (COVID-19): new mutations that accelerate its rate of infection and spread and a variety of vaccines that are beginning to stop it.

In view of the fact that the virus is transmitted from person to person in droplet transmission, by airborne fluid fragments, and that it is a disease of the respiratory system, there have been many hypotheses over the past year that the air quality around us also affects the dimensions of the epidemic.

Indeed, a new Israeli study found a link between air pollution levels in OECD countries and morbidity and mortality levels from Corona in those countries.

More on Walla!

NEWS

The mysterious mystery that caused the corona numbers in India to plummet

To the full article

In the new study, recently published in the journal Environmental Research, Dr. Zohar Brent-Yitzhaki and Dr. Adi Levy focused on two common types of air pollutants, exposure to which can cause various health damages.

One is fine breathable particles (PM2.5) with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns (thousandths of a mm): these particles are emitted into the air as a result of burning fossil fuels in vehicles and power plants as well as mining and quarrying activities, dust storms and forest fires, and their tiny size allows them Penetrate deep into the lungs and from there into the bloodstream.The second pollutant is nitrogen oxides (NOx), these gases formed as a result of burning processes at high temperatures (such as those carried out in motor vehicles, factories and power plants), irritate the respiratory system and cause bronchitis , Asthma and impaired lung function and are generally a good indicator of transport air pollution.

More on Walla!

NEWS

• Can air pollution cause brain damage to young people?

• Air pollution can cause psychosis in teens

• 70,000 people are not wrong: the treatment of knee and back pain is recognized by all HMOs

The researchers compared the data on the concentrations of these pollutants in the air in OECD countries between the years 2017-2015 (data representing chronic exposure to these pollutants) to the morbidity and mortality data from Corona in the various countries.

Red and polluted countries

As mentioned, the study dealt with 36 OECD countries, including Israel.

"These are countries where we can rely on the morbidity and mortality reports they provide - in contrast to some other countries in the world, such as Russia, China or African countries, whose reliability comes less in this context, whether due to underreporting or relative lack of testing," says Brent. - Yitzhaki, Health and Environmental Researcher at the Ministry of Health and faculty member in the Faculty of Engineering at the Ruppin Academic Center.

There is a significant association between air pollution and morbidity and mortality during the corona epidemic.

Polluting factories (Photo: ShutterStock)

The researchers found a significant link between air pollution and morbidity and mortality during the corona epidemic.

In the countries surveyed, morbidity and mortality levels on the 10th, 20th, 40th and 60th days after the discovery of the first verified case in the country were found to be related to the levels of delicate respiratory particles in the air in the years surveyed, and morbidity and mortality from corona on the 60th day were also related To nitric oxide levels in those years.

In addition, the researchers divided the countries surveyed into "reds" - countries where the number of patients on the 80th day after the first patient was discovered was greater than the median (such as Italy and Spain), and "green", where this value was less than the median (such as New Zealand and Greece) .

They found that the concentrations of air pollutants (and especially nitrogen oxides) in 2015-2017 were statistically significantly higher in all red countries compared to green ones.

The corona "rides" on polluting particles

How does air pollution affect the development and spread of corona disease?

One possible mechanism of action is related to the fact that air pollution impairs the function of the respiratory system.

"Exposure to air pollution can damage the body's defense mechanisms, including cells in the respiratory system and their ability to eliminate both pollutants and pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria," says Brent-Yitzhaki.

"Therefore, people who are exposed to chronic air pollution are more prone to illness - and especially to respiratory illness."

Beyond that, evidence has recently begun to accumulate that the droplet spray through which the corona spreads from person to person is able to "ride" on contaminating particles of different sizes such as PM2.5 and PM10 (contaminating particles smaller than 10 microns) - and therefore in some cases may increase exposure To the virus.

"The vast majority of the tiny droplets emitted when we sneeze, cough or talk sink quite quickly, but tiny droplets (aerosols) along with particulate air pollution can hover in the air and stay in the area longer, especially in enclosed spaces where air exchange is limited, as found in adhesion studies. In restaurants, buses and spaces where physical training takes place, "explains Levy, the scientific director of the Israeli Association of Ecology and Environmental Sciences and head of the Environmental and Sustainability Division at the Achva Academic College.

"Beyond that, delicate respiratory particles are able to penetrate the deepest areas of the lungs and even reach the bloodstream, which, if contaminated with the corona virus, can also affect the ability of viruses to enter our body."

Documentation of high-speed camera sneezing (Photo: screenshot, MIT screenshot)

It should be noted that the relationship found in the study is not necessarily causal - that is, even if an association between air pollution and morbidity and mortality from corona is found, air pollution is not necessarily the direct and exclusive cause of morbidity and mortality.

"However, the new study joins similar findings from recent months, for example from Italy, the Netherlands and the US," says Levy. "Beyond that, air pollution damage to the respiratory system has been well known to the scientific community for a long time, and 2013 outdoor air pollution is defined by The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a definite carcinogen to humans (Group 1). "

Another point to note is that the air pollution data that the researchers relied on referred to 2017-2015, and not to the corona period itself. These provide a good picture of the chronic air pollution concentrations in the various countries examined and therefore also the effect of air pollution on their morbidity. "Usually the significant damage to the respiratory system is not caused by spot air pollution that prevails on one day or another, but mainly Time and especially in sensitive populations like the elderly, "he says." A time span of three years represents chronic population exposure, so it is very relevant. "

Reduce air pollution

One of the countries included in the study is Israel, which was defined by the criteria set by the researchers as a "red" country.

The state of air pollution in Israel is far from ideal, and it is known from previous studies that the average annual exposure of all Israeli citizens to a number of air pollutants (including fine breathable particles) is higher than the thresholds set by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The entire population of the country is exposed to delicate respirable particles in concentrations that are higher than the target values ​​of the Clean Air Law - values ​​whose deviation constitutes a fear of risk or harm to human life.

In the center of the country, and especially in Tel Aviv and Rishon Lezion, the levels of nitrogen oxides are also higher than the target value, and in the open areas there are high levels of the ozone pollutant.

Over 2,000 Israelis die prematurely each year as a result of air pollution.

Pollution over Gush Dan (Photo: Walla! NEWS system, Reuven Castro)

Even regardless of the corona epidemic, there is no doubt that exposure to air pollution harms human health.

It is estimated that over 2,000 Israelis die prematurely each year as a result of air pollution.

Chronic exposure to high air pollution has been linked to a wide range of health damages, including respiratory diseases, heart disease, stroke, various cancers, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, birth defects and premature death.

In addition, according to the OECD, the costs of air pollution in Israel reach more than $ 7 billion a year (an amount that includes the cost of hospitalization days, the cost of medical care for patients, the loss of working days for the economy and more).

"Our findings are a reminder to decision makers of the great importance of reducing air pollution in population concentrations, and in particular reducing fossil fuel burning (oil, coal and natural gas), even beyond the environmental benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions," Levy concludes.

"We do not know how long the corona will remain with us, but even after it - if we can significantly reduce air pollution, it is likely to reduce the ability of respiratory viruses to severely harm sensitive populations in the future, and improve the overall health of Israeli citizens."

The article was prepared by "Angle - The News Agency of the Israeli Association of Ecology and Environmental Sciences"

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on general

• Share on general

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

0 comments