Air Indoors and Immune Triggers
The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) reports that poor indoor air can cause ill health and disease, and that "no single government department has ownership of this issue." Simultaneously, Asthma UK unveiled research that named indoor triggers that cause asthmaA respiratory disease featuring attacks of breathlessness and wheezing due to inflammation and narrowing of the upper airways. There is often an allergic component. in the first place.
Asthma UK say that poor indoor air quality is under-appreciated, because it is major source of pollution known to cause poor health and disease.
- The main health effects are to heart and lungs
- Most at risk are developing children and adults who are already ill
- Moulds and house dust mites worsen asthma and cause wheezing
- One in five children carry an inhaler, one in four pre-schoolers wheeze
- The extent to which indoor air pollutants affect health is not fully known
POST is concerned that too much emphasis has been placed on researching outdoor pollution, with not enough scrutiny indoors. In support, Asthma UK weighs in with new research describing how common dust found indoors from house dust mites, dogs, cockroaches and peanuts, can begin an immune cascade towards allergyVarious conditions caused by exaggerated reactions of the immune system (hypersensitivity reactions) to a variety of substances. and asthma. (Asthma Magazine, Nov.2010, p.9) "Important cells sample the air we breathe in and decide whether or not to activate an immune response."
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