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In a year that broke all heat records since the atmospheric temperature began to be recorded in the 19th century, the climate change debates have been overshadowed by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a virus that has killed more than 1.2 million people in 10 months. Although there is a lack of evidence of a direct relationship between the microorganism and man-made environmental disasters, studies show that air pollution, desertification and intense heat can increase the risk of death for patients. Furthermore, deforestation and species extinction are associated with the emergence of zoonoses, diseases transmitted from animals to humans, as Covid-19 is believed to be.
One of the direct consequences of fossil fuel combustion and intense industrialization is air pollution. Although invisible, the byproduct of these activities is suspended in the air, in the form of very fine particles, the particulate matter. On Thursday, an article published in the journal Scientific Report showed that even small increases in particles of 2.5 millionths of a meter (PM2.5) increased the number of deaths from Covid-19 in the United States.
The study, led by Francesca Dominici, of Harvard College of Public Health TH Chan, analyzed environmental data in 3,000 North American counties and correlated them with deaths from Covid-19 that occurred up until June in those locations. After adjusting the results for 20 factors that can influence the severity of the disease, the researchers found that an increase of just 1 microgram of PM2.5 per cubic meter is associated with an 11% increase in deaths of patients infected with SARS. -CoV- 2. “The results of our study suggest that in places with high levels of pollution is where we need to implement measures of social distance, now more than ever, knowing that people in these regions will be more susceptible to die from Covid-19 “says Dominici professor of biostatistics at the institution.
Although this was one of the first studies to link mortality from Covid-19 and air pollution, the researcher recalls that several previous studies have shown that particulate inhalation can lead to reduced lung function and organ damage, as well. to damage. cardiovascular disease. Dominici points out that the experience with Sars-CoV-1, a close cousin of Sars-CoV-2, which caused an outbreak in Asia in 2003, corroborates the association. In regions of China with moderate levels of pollution, the risk of dying from the disease was 80% higher than in less affected areas. In those with heavy air contamination, the probability was double.
Similar results to the Scientific Reports study were obtained by Francesca Dominici and European researchers, who published an article two weeks ago in the journal Cardiovascular Research. According to the authors, exposure to air pollution exacerbates conditions that lead to an increased risk of death from Covid-19, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and non-respiratory comorbidities, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity. and coronary artery disease. Research has linked long-term exposure to particulate matter to 15% of deaths from Sars-CoV-2 infection worldwide and 19% in Europe.
The German and Cypriot researchers used terrestrial and satellite data on global exposure to fine particles and associated them with an atmospheric chemistry model, combined with data from the United States and China, relating to air pollution. The results indicated that East Asia had the highest rate of deaths from Covid-19 which could be attributed to the effects of air pollution and its effects on human health (27%). In South America, this index was 9%, in Brazil 12%.
The study showed that, in Italy, the Lombardy region has the worst concentrations of air pollution, and it is precisely there that the highest death rates for Covid-19 in the first European wave of the disease are recorded. In addition to the direct relationship between polluting particles and worsening of comorbidities, the authors stated that “it seems likely that fine particles prolong the atmospheric life of infectious viruses, favoring their transmission”.
This has already been shown in relation to several viruses, including influenza, which cause influenza. A study published last year in the journal Scientific Reports by researchers from the University of Tennessee in the United States revealed that particulate matter contributed to the spread of H5N2, which causes bird flu, in 2015. Scientists modeled with climate data obtained from satellites and concentrations of pollutants in the state of Iowa, where the disease devastated poultry farming, also including calculations of the concentration of viruses in the atmosphere and found that the microorganism remained in the air longer and moved easily, being carried by the polluting particles.
Deforestation
Between 2015 and 2020, 10 million hectares of forest fell every year, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Fund (FAO). In addition to the well-known association between deforestation and mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria and arboviruses, the destruction of the habitat of animals living in forest regions has already proved to be a risk for the onset of pandemics.
“More and more research points to the fact that when we engage in activities such as deforestation, we do not fully understand the cascading effects. The consequences can be dire, “says Teevrat Garg, a professor at the College of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego.” Deforestation has been linked to the spread of infectious diseases and climate change, and what’s more alarmingly, it is happening at a rapid pace, “says Garg, author of a recent study on the influence of logging on the increase in malaria cases in Indonesia. The research, published online by the Nature group, showed that a decrease in 1 % of forest cover increases the incidence of disease by 10%.
Garg points out that although there is still no direct evidence of the association between deforestation and the emergence of Sars-CoV-2, this has already been demonstrated for other highly lethal viruses, such as HIV and Sars-CoV- 1, which cause AIDS and Record Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). HIV – which has killed 40 million people worldwide – comes from the consumption of wild animals, probably chimpanzees, by humans who have invaded the Cameroonian jungle. Ebola, on the other hand, jumped fruit bats attracted to raised orchards where they were forests for humans.
Furthermore, in environments disturbed by anthropogenic activities, animals can come into contact with species they have never encountered before, and from this interaction new diseases with intermediate hosts can arise. This was the case with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), a close cousin to Covid-19, which passed from bats to camels and then to humans.
The most accepted theories today propose that Sars-CoV-2 migrated from an as yet unidentified bat species to pangolin – the busiest mammal in the world – before settling in humans. “Wild animals aren’t the problem – they don’t cause disease. People do. At the root of the problem (of emerging zoonoses) is human behavior, so changing this is a solution, “says Andrew Cunningham, a researcher at the Zoological Society of London and co-author of a study that identified 161 ways to change the relationship with animals to reduce the risk of another pandemic such as Covid-19 The work is reviewed by colleagues before being published.
COP-26 postponed
The world’s leading event on climate change, the United Nations Conference of the Parties on the subject, the COP, does not take place this year. The 26th edition was for November and December 2021. The postponement jeopardizes compliance with the deadlines of the Paris Agreement and could undermine the objectives of reducing the temperature increase.
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