Like any information on the throne of virus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast so you can get it wherever you get your podcast you can also find us at. Is there a connection between air pollution and the corona fires lockdowns have helped the environment as factories closed flights were cancelled and ships slowed. In the canals of venice clear skies over delhi and see that every day but studies show quality air prior to the crisis could have made people. High been physical and less the 1st up at what the Scientific Evidence says about pollution and corona fatalities. Its a map that many of us have become painfully familiar with the red dots showing coronavirus cases around the world. The number of fatalities has been especially high in northern italy. In spain around the capital madrid similar scenarios. This has prompted some researchers to examine the environment in these regions more closely among them if you are an organ a joke refer at the university of hala. Research until this point. Was focusing on what better of diseases these people died from coronavirus has their smoking they have any cardiovascular busy diseases that have the ability. But i shift the other researchers also from around the world started to shift from the better this is to the environmental dr. In his study hour on all can examine the level of air pollution measured by faster lights before the outbreak. He focused on my kitchen die out fight. The gothamist hit by cars planes and industrial activity. And other factor that he was interested in concerned kajaki a few of the region 20 number of deaths were high. Notice a pattern. That of the fatalities in china. In the. North part of italy and in madrid but these are places surrounded by mountains mountain ridges and valleys so nandan is actually closed the area which means if there are pollutants any kind of pollutants in this area especially in winter when you have very cold weather the air will sound words very cold d very stable conditions the pollutants stay close to the ground close to the surface and the mountains do not let it spread it out let it disperse in other places and so the population are exposed to a high concentration of the pollutants. And there have been other studies such as this one from chandon university in china which found that long term exposure to air pollution attacks the immune system and damages the lungs. Or more precisely the cilia of the lungs which make up the 1st line of defense against inhaled germs that can make it much easier for pathogens like the corona virus to advance into the airways. If the environment is clean we will be clean and we will be helped if our environment is polluted we will suffer more. Exactly it may cost to look at the environment and we should keep it clean. There are of course multiple factors that influence how severely the corona virus strikes but the environment may play a bigger role than we thought. Taking a look at the studies for us. Has air pollution made us more vulnerable to catching the corona virus or actually dying from it. So its not about catching the virus but more about the chances of you dying from the virus we do that pollution increases the risk of these Underlying Health conditions like lung cancer and asked that leave your body move in the face of infection and scientists are worried that the more people who are exposed to long term. The more people there are in the region who will then suffer from these Health Conditions that lead to these complications what about the Science Behind this can the virus basically ride on particulate matter and make its way into our lungs. So we can quite strongly say that this isnt the case every epidemiologist and pollution expert i spoke to said that theres basically no reason to suspect that this is happening essentially the World Health Organization has made very clear that the virus is transmitted from person to person and this happens through droplets in the air and sometimes on the surfaces that these landed on and this is of course why its so important that we all wash our hands and avoid touching a faces and that we physically distant from one another droplets and Services Like anymore one of the takeaways he added. I think the main takeaway tonight is that if you suffer from one of these Underlying Health conditions if you live in one of these polluted areas and you do have these chronic conditions like asthma or lung disease then yes you are probably a higher risk of complications from the virus whats less clear though is one of the mean if you live in one of these areas but dont suffer from these conditions could the air pollution still have an effect on your survival chances if you do contract fires not something that scientists dont know yet but whats important to consider is that hospitals which are dealing with a large number of patients who do suffer from these diseases a move likely to be overwhelmed so even if you dont have the virus if you even if you dont have an Underlying Health condition if you live in an area with high pollution your hospitals might be more at risk so watch governments be doing to ensure this doesnt happen again the web or take it from this i mean post crisis i guess everythings going to go back to normal at least thats my fear and its not going to be good for us all the a bar. I think thats a fear of many environmental groups as well and campaign as have medical professionals people working in the field of air pollution are really calling for a drastic change where we dont just go back to business as usual and obviously its understandable that governments right now it kind of focused on limiting the spread of the disease and trying to avoid this huge disruption to the economy that the lockdowns have created but people are also noticing the reduction in equality that were seeing right now and asking how we can make this last longer. Some suggestions that maybe at the most obvious and basic ones to accelerate the shift to from fossil fuels to Renewable Energy sources of that a less polluting say solar panels and wind that dont spew these gas of that actually damaging our lungs. The other big consideration is how to change transport and how to move from the kind of diesel been petrol based vehicles to electric vehicles or even to public transport these are the kind of considerations that groups are trying to get governments to consider right from the very start and not leave till after the pandemic at it thanks for having me on the. Now for your questions on the carnivorous is out. The pandemic has brought cleaner water after cleaner air should we do lock down and regularly to improve Environmental Quality same. Im not a climate scientist but i read a riveting article by a well known expert in that field just this morning and that touched on this question which is why i decided to try to answer it here she makes it very clear that although wed all love to believe that theres some kind of environmental Silver Lining to this disaster that is the proven 1000 epidemic there isnt one because c o 2 lasts for so long in the atmosphere and because weve been pumping it into the atmosphere for so long whats happening now might improve air quality temporarily but it wont really do anything to slow the biggest factor in in veyron mental quality which is Climate Change she also makes a very compelling case that going into regular lockdowns willingly accepting the suffering and death that they also would cause that it wouldnt solve our Environmental Woes the only thing that will do that she says is changing a system thats based on extracting c o 2 from the ground and pumping it into the atmosphere. When and how that 19 patient even ventilation governor virus just die on the phone retired or. Mechanical ventilation via intubation is a very invasive last resort procedure thats only implemented when a patients oxygen bubbles fall below keith rush holds when when organ damage is imminent because not enough oxygen is reaching the bloodstream what the machine is supposed to do is keep someone whos critically ill alive long enough to allow their immune system to clear the pathogen and fluid. From their lungs to help them reach the point where normal breathing will provide enough oxygen again we still dont have any medications to treat the disease so at that point the bodys immune system either wipes the virus out and then subsides to levels where the immune reaction itself isnt lethal or the patient dies the ventilator is a last ditch attempt to give the immune system the time it needs to take care of the infection on its own interestingly attitudes towards mechanical ventilation for covert 900 patients are shifting among experts at the moment but but thats another topic maybe ill talk about that next week. I want to post more some observations have been long been covered 9000 patients romeo and. About 5 percent of the patients who contract covert 19 will grow critically ill and the symptoms that put them in intensive care pretty much always involve the lungs quite a few histological studies have looked at exactly what kind of damage the virus does there and what those studies basically reveal is that a critical infection usually disrupts oxygen transfer in the logs by causing a massive immune reaction that leads to inflammation and creates this sludge of fluid and dead cells that block oxygen transfer even more when things reach a critical point patients enter whats called acute respiratory distress syndrome and then they have to be ventilated and many die subsequent autopsies show that the tiny sacks and their lungs that allow gas exchange are packed with a gun me yellow fluid made up of mucous white blood cells from the immune system and dead cells from the lining of the lungs. Theyre going there and that was our coded 1000. 00 special and then fizzle and he said. Eco africa i knew my 1st scrap electronic gear cameron has just one collection side the materials are recycled there in the resold in a fair fight the ticket was just too good to soak in the fish one of the objectives is to promote stay this edition of more authentic managing that is to keep people safe and would buy a new device so fortunate to get that 56 percent from us wonderful africa. W. In the other line of Climate Change. To suit. What. People. Want to hear is today the future of. G. W. Dot com africanamerican city. Hate this enough. Thats what a video game music sounded like 30 years ago. Todays tracks take the experience to another level ok sense to him talk composer points are. Featured in many games his music is bound to. His fans be open stores. Sounds good. No genre thats so much more than just background music. Video game music on t. W. I want welcome to a new edition of. Environmental magazine wrote to you by gemini and t. V. In uganda and sons t. V. It makes everyone i am sunda to no good in kampala uganda and of course with me even my son included from nigeria thank you sandra im now tired were here in a dumb austerity