The fact that smoke resulting from structure fires and forest fires can harm the immune system is not new. But now, the researchers published a Ticket This helps to detect mechanisms that can cause smoke this damage.
What is happening?
When the Los Angeles region endured a series of catastrophic forest fires in January, Conversation Examination of the least well -known effect of wildfire smoke: damage to immune systems.
The port was martyred at higher rates of Covid-19 infection in New South Wales after a long period of black summer bush fires in late 2019 and 2020. Reporting from the conversation added that more research was required to measure the risk scope and understand exactly how exposure to smoke immune systems, with the possibility of permanent damage.
Research on this topic is already continuing, as a new publication in late June in Nature Medicine Create.
“We have known that exposure to smoke causes the results of bad breathing, heart, nervousness and pregnancy, but we did not understand how,” co -author Carrie Nadu Make up.
Nado is a professor of population and climate studies, as well as the head of the Environmental Health Department at Harvard Chan College of Public Health.
She added: “Our study fills this knowledge gap, so that doctors and public health leaders are better equipped to respond to the increasing threat of containing toxic forest fires.”
according to The authors, issued by Harvard, have identified 31 people, “firefighters and civilians”, who were smoke, along with 29 people who did not. The blood samples participated in the “cellular level” were analyzed, and the researchers identified many major differences in the group of people who have been smoke.
This group showed high levels and activity in relation to specific immune cells, and the researchers found “changes in 133 genes related to allergies and asthma.”
In addition to these differences, the immune cells of the participants exposed to smoke were “associated with toxic minerals”, including cadmium and mercury, which was apparently released in the air by materials while burning.
Why are these results important?
As the researchers noted, the damage of the immune system associated with fire smoke was documented previously. But without more information about the nature of these risks, scientists knew that they would be more difficult to treat it.
With global temperatures, forest fires and other harsh weather forms have become more common and more deadly. Understanding the exact risks posed by these escalating threats can enable policy makers to set standards that help protect the public and enable the population to take evidence steps to protect themselves.
What can we do about it?
The main author Mary Johnson said that the team’s results show that “the immune system is very sensitive to environmental exposure”, even in youth and health. The main research world at Harvard University hopes to improve Understand this issue The mitigation strategies will reach.
“Knowing how exactly helps us to discover immune defects from smoke early and can pave the way for a new treatment to mitigate the health effects of smoke and environmental pollutants,” Make up.
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