Asthma, and airborne allergies can be caused by environmental factors.
That is the case for the firefighters and rescue workers who helped with the cleanup in the aftermath of Sept. 11. The clearing of Ground Zero – an operation that took approximately nine months – was carried out by a number of workers who, in the process of their mission, were exposed to a slew of hazardous airborne toxins that led to the development of something that would be called "WTC Cough". This cough is caused by obstructed airways and inflamed throat and lungs.
In order to test the materials that had been absorbed into these people's lungs, the only procedure that was available in the early 2000s was a bronchoscopy. This process includes the insertion of a bronchoscope into the lung so that the lung can be sampled. This invasive technique was also not a good way to screen a number of individuals.
Realizing the impracticality here, a professor at the Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Institute for Pulmonary and Allergic Diseases at TAU-affiliated Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center took her resources and her team and worked to develop a better way.
Elizabeth Fireman, the professor in question, experimented with a new process that she and her colleagues called the Induced Sputum (IS). This process includes inhaling hypertonic saline, which in turn promotes the creation of mucus expectorate. With this mucus, the team was able to test for hazardous materials. Once the researchers had perfected the process, Fireman flew to Ground Zero to test 39 New York City firefighters who had worked at the rescue site 13 years ago. She compared the results of these findings with her control group of Israeli firefighters, and found that the lungs of NYC's firefighters contained dangerous metals like mercury.
She went on to publish her findings in the International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health. This publication has caused many medical professionals to suggest that the technique could be used to assess the impact of pollution on asthmatic children in urban settings. In fact, it has lead to the postulation that sampling stations that are intended to protect the health of these children are not sufficient enough to perform the magnitude of the task.
"After our last study on occupational exposure, I decided to examine the most vulnerable sector in the field of asthma — children," Prof. Fireman told the Science Codex, an online publication focused on the science world. "Environmental monitoring systems are only capable of measuring large particle matter, which is mostly expelled by the lungs. I wanted to know what happened to the small particle matter capable of evading the body's immunological mechanisms. And I wanted to know how they affected asthmatic kids."
In order to conduct the study, the professor and her team surveyed 136 children from the ages two to twelve. All of these kids had already been sent for asthmatic evaluations to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. All of the parents completed a questionnaire regarding the health history, smoking status in the household and respiratory symptoms. From there, each of the children underwent IS testing so the scientists could determine the particles in their lungs.
Their findings were then compared to the data that the stations regularly collect and was found to be inconclusive with one another. This would suggest that the environmental monitoring simply isn't enough, and that communities around the globe should also implement a biomonitoring technique like the IS to better care for their kids.
To learn more about how to best protect your children from their asthma symptoms, be sure to check in with our team at Allergy Be Gone. We can point you in the right direction for asthma and allergy prevention. Contact us today to learn more!
