Five deadly diseases caused by smog weather

Recently, the smog weather that has persisted for several days in many cities in my country has attracted great attention from the public. Living in smog weather, we are very likely to feel difficulty in breathing and eye discomfort. This is because haze is most likely to cause respiratory diseases, conjunctivitis, cardiovascular diseases and other diseases in the human body.

1. May induce cardiovascular disease

Due to the winter and haze, the number of people going to hospitals for respiratory diseases has surged recently, especially "old patients" who already have chronic respiratory diseases.

A significant impact of haze on human health is that it can cause or aggravate respiratory diseases. Jiang Wenhui, chief physician of the Women and Children's Medical Center, said that the patients seen recently were mainly suffering from acute respiratory infections, bronchitis, asthma, etc. Among them, the proportion of children with asthma has doubled compared with before. At the same time, hazy days may also induce cardiovascular diseases. Wang Jun, director of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital No. 2, suggested that the elderly and children who feel unwell on hazy days, especially those with a history of respiratory or cardiovascular diseases, should go to the hospital for examination and treatment immediately, and should try to stay indoors on hazy days.

2. Be careful not to get conjunctivitis

The continuous smog has caused many pedestrians to wear masks. While protecting your mouth, have you neglected your eyes?

Professor Zhou Shiyou from the Cornea Department of Zhongshan Eye Center of Sun Yat-sen University told reporters that the main components of haze are physical substances and chemical particles such as dust, sulfuric acid, nitric acid in the air. These substances can easily irritate the eye mucosal system and cause non-infectious conjunctivitis (chemical irritant conjunctivitis). As for conjunctivitis caused by haze, Professor Zhou said that it is quite difficult to treat, so he especially reminded patients who have lived in haze areas for a long time to pay enough attention.

Zhou Shiyou reminded that after returning from outside in haze weather, you should wash your skin in time and rinse your eyes with clean running water to reduce the time bacteria attach; when eye discomfort occurs in haze weather, you must not buy eye drops at will and should seek medical attention in time.

3. Prone to respiratory diseases

According to physical examination experts, young people in foggy and haze weather often experience symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection such as dry cough and sore throat, and allergic rhinitis also takes the opportunity to attack; middle-aged people in their thirties and forties often show symptoms of lung infection, pneumonia, and some even suffer from bronchial asthma; the elderly often show symptoms of acute attacks of chronic respiratory diseases, with chronic bronchitis and emphysema being the most common.

"The onset of allergic respiratory diseases during haze days is mainly because patients with asthma, allergic rhinitis and other diseases have weaker respiratory resistance than normal people. Suspended matter such as dust, smoke, dust mites, etc. floating in the air will become allergens. When patients with bronchial asthma inhale these suspended matter, it will irritate the respiratory tract and cause symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, chest tightness, and difficulty breathing." Changsha physical examination expert explained.

4. Lung cancer

A professor from the School of Public Health at Fudan University said that the incubation period of lung cancer ranges from a few years to several decades. If young children suffer from lung cancer, it is likely related to genetic factors and gene mutations. However, it is a consensus in the medical community that children are more affected by car exhaust and road dust than adults due to their height. Because children's breathing zone is near the height of exhaust gas, and children's respiratory exposure per unit body weight is higher than that of adults, resulting in higher susceptibility, so they are more affected by pollutants such as exhaust gas and haze. In addition, children's organs are not fully developed, so the damage caused by polluted gases is even greater.

5. Rickets in children

The Environmental Institute of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has spent a year conducting research on the impact of haze on human health.

Preliminary research has found that in addition to increasing the incidence/hospitalization rate of respiratory diseases, haze weather also has some indirect effects on human health. The emergence of haze will weaken the radiation of ultraviolet rays. If haze occurs frequently, it will affect the synthesis of vitamin D in the human body, lead to a high incidence of rickets in children, and enhance the activity of infectious bacteria in the air.