- Title
- Exposure to bushfire and biomass smoke and the risk of bacterial and viral lung infection
- Creator
- Shukla, Shakti D.; O'Toole, Ronan F.
- Relation
- Respirology Vol. 25, Issue 11, p. 1121-1122
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/resp.13908
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2020
- Description
- From September 2019 to March 2020, Australia experienced one of its worst bushfire seasons which became known as the Black Summer. An area of 186 000 km 2, more than twice the size of the island of Ireland, was burned with a loss of over 30 lives and 5000 buildings, half of which were private dwellings. In terms of health impacts, bushfire smoke releases hazardous particulate matter ≤10 μm in diameter (PM 10), and fine particulate matter ≤2.5 μm in diameter (PM 2.5). PM 10 and PM 2.5 increase the risk of hospitalization and emergency department visits in individuals with chronic airway illnesses, in particular, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as reviewed recently. But in regard to communicable illnesses, data on the role of bushfire smoke in infection are currently limited. Regarding the latter, as previously noted, standardized techniques are needed for the generation of reproducible biomass smoke in the laboratory. Extension of these techniques to bushfire smoke will assist in determining the impact of bushfire smoke on the respiratory system at the cellular and molecular levels including the process of infection by pathogenic microorganisms.
- Subject
- COVID-19; Haemophilus influenzae; influenza virus; respiratory infections; smoke; SDG 3; Sustainable Development Goals
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1506413
- Identifier
- uon:55863
- Identifier
- ISSN:1323-7799
- Rights
- x?
- Language
- eng
- Reviewed
- Hits: 10
- Visitors: 10
- Downloads: 0