Wildfire smoke is loaded with microbes

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/12/wildfire-smoke-is-loaded-with-microbes-is-that-dangerous/

by samizdis • 6 years ago

28 20 6 years ago

arstechnica.com

nickthemagicman6• 6 years ago

Good it'll build peoples immune system.

The toxic chemicals from the smoke is definitely a problem but the microbes?

When we become a country of hypochondriacs?

Edit: The modern media is having a field day exploiting peoples misunderstanding of statistical likelihood to drum up all kinds of nightmares and terrors in peoples minds that have existed since the dawn of mankind but are now suddenly something to be terrified of.

And people who just follow along with whatever the mainstream says.. are eating it up.

wolco22• 6 years ago

Not in the way you understand. Bacterial infections can be deadly. This would stress out human biome defenses and change biomes in some cases increasing in lysogenic bacterial strains. It's not the same as eating dirt.

nickthemagicman6• 6 years ago

I'm not going to approach your strawman about eating dirt.

I'm just going to say this:

There's microbes constantly in the air around you at all times that you're constantly inhaling, on every surface you touch, everywhere you go, every person you interact with. Billions or Trillions of different strains you encounter daily. Your skin is covered in microbes at all times. Your body has more microbes inside of it than it's own cells(google it).

At any point you could have a reaction to one of these but you don't because of your immune system.

Some people who have weak immune systems or are susceptible can have problems. BUT this is hugely statistically unlikely.

So for the media to be drumming up fears of microbes in the air is disengenuous and for people to be falling for it is truly something and says alot about the state of modern scientific education.

jacobolus• 6 years ago

Did you read it?

Take, for instance, the fungus genus Coccidioides, whose species live in soil. When a fire tears through a landscape, it disturbs the soil both directly, by chewing it up with flames, but also indirectly: All that hot, rising air creates an atmospheric void near the surface, and more air rushes in from the sides to fill it. This can produce fierce winds that scour the earth, aerosolizing the fungi.
When firefighters inhale this rotten air, the fungi can lead to a condition called coccidioidomycosis, or valley fever, with symptoms including fever and shortness of breath. The condition may progress to cause pneumonia or meningitis, an infection of tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord. (Infection by another fungus genus called Cryptococcus, also a concern in wildfire smoke, leads to similar symptoms.) Coccidioidomycosis is common enough among firefighters that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the profession at-risk for the fungal infection.

nickthemagicman6• 6 years ago

Is every day like the movie Final Destination for you?

1-6• 6 years ago

I miss the days when fireplaces and campfires were commonplace. Now you can’t even gather brushwood at “protected” campsites without facing penalties. Campers are actually helping to clear out tinder. They’re not loggers.

nickthemagicman6• 6 years ago

The insidious whittling away of our freedoms in the 'name of safety' in modern times and fearful people's support of it.. is truly something to behold.

vwcx• 6 years ago

Generally campsites do not need the small-scale timber “clearing” that happens when humans go camping and look for firewood for their small fires. All that ends up happening is a brutal macro-deforestation in the 100 yard radius of the site. The “protection” is to stop idiots from cutting every sapling in sight, which really does nothing to reduce that forest’s overall composition and fire risk.

pcmaffey2• 6 years ago

Does anyone have experience with air quality monitors? My home partially burned in a wildfire 3 months ago, and while I have damaged areas sealed off, I’m still not sure how safe the outside air is from the surrounding charred forest. Would love to understand better what’s in the air both indoors and outdoors. But from what I gather, monitoring is not so simple?

tyu2• 6 years ago

Is it really important though, as the only solution is still just HEPA filter. Expensive air filters usually have dust sensors/particle counters in them, so there is some indication when the air is dirty and, you know, anything PM2.5 is harmful either way.

pcmaffey2• 6 years ago

That’s been my thought to date, just investing in air filters instead. We’ve got several. But we’re still not sure whether it’s a good idea to be there at all.

cbsks• 6 years ago

I have heard good things about PurpleAir air quality sensors. https://www2.purpleair.com/collections/air-quality-sensors

labseven• 6 years ago

The two maps I use are purple air and AirNow.gov.

https://www.purpleair.com/map https://www.airnow.gov/

syntaxing• 6 years ago

Depends if you want to build your own or not [1]. If not, I think purpleair is the way to go (I use the same sensor as them but they have two I believe for redundancy). As for air purifier, I highly recommend Blueair. They’re expensive but was the only purifier I had that managed to pull the PM2.5 indoors to near 0 during this terrible wildfire season in California.

[1] https://www.powu3.com/airquality/

davidbanham• 6 years ago

Respiratory protection for bush fire fighters is something we only just started getting serious about in Australia last summer. I started wearing a reusable P3 respirator on the fireground about this time last year and found it made a massive difference to my recovery in the few days after a fire.

From what I understand about the way things are done in the US most people don’t even wear a disposable P2. Hopefully articles like this start generating a conversation both within the fire services and amongst the people they protect.

Wildfire smoke is loaded with microbes

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