PM2.5 in Beijing – temporal pattern and its association with influenza

Abstract

BackgroundAir pollution in Beijing, especially PM2.5, has received increasing attention in the past years. Despite Beijing being one of the most polluted cities in the world, there has still been a lack of quantitative research regarding the health impact of PM2.5 on the impact of diseases in Beijing. In this study, we aimed to characterize temporal pattern of PM2.5 and its potential association with human influenza in Beijing.MethodsBased on the data collected on hourly ambient PM2.5 from year 2008 to 2013 and on monthly human influenza cases from 2008 and 2011, we investigated temporal patterns of PM2.5 over the five-year period and utilized the wavelet approach to exploring the potential association between PM2.5 and influenza.ResultsOur results found that ambient PM2.5 pollution was severe in Beijing with PM2.5 concentrations being significantly higher than the standards of the World Health Organization, the US EPA, and the Chinese EPA in the majority of days during the study period. Furthermore, PM2.5 concentrations in the winter heating seasons were higher than those in non-heating seasons despite high variations. We also found significant association between ambient PM2.5 peak and human influenza case increase with a delayed effect (e.g. delayed effect of PM2.5 on influenza).ConclusionsAmbient PM2.5 concentrations were significantly associated with human influenza cases in Beijing, which have important implications for public health and environmental actions.

Haze is an important medium for the spread of rotavirus

“…Moreover, this impact was characterized by an evident dosage effect, a lag effect and a cumulative effect. Many studies showed that air pollution could cause a high incidence of respiratory disease (Gordon et al, 2014;Liang et al, 2014;Xu et al, 2013), but the manner in which it impacts diseases of the digestive tract with the hand-mouth approach as the primary route of transmission is unknown. The research team led by Professor Jiang from Peking University described one possibility in their latest study.…”

The impact of ambient fine particles on influenza transmission and the modification effects of temperature in China: A multi-city study

“…Influenza cases were defined according to Technical guides for prevention and control of influenza issued by China Ministry of Health (http://www.moh.gov.cn/zwgkzt/s9491/200802/38820.shtml): sudden onset of fever ≥ 38°C, cough or sore throat, and absence of other diagnoses. As influenza is a notifiable disease (Class C), sentinel hospitals are required to collect nasopharyngeal swabs for each identified case which are subsequently sent to designated laboratories for virus isolation and further identification and results are submitted online within 24 h (Liang et al, 2014;Shu et al, 2010).…”

“…Of particular concern, both nationally and globally, is the increasing threat posed by emerging infectious diseases (e.g., severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS] and the highly pathogenic avian influenza [HPAI]) in the Chinese population, both of which pose a significant public health threat (Wang et al, 2008). Few studies have examined the possible effect of ambient PM 2.5 concentrations on risk of communicable disease in China, but those that have reported a positive association between ambient Environment International 98 (2017) 82-88 PM 2.5 and localised transmission of influenza (C. Huang et al, 2016;Liang et al, 2014). However, until now there has been no large-scale examination of the association due to past unavailability of PM 2.5 data and incident cases of influenza at the national level.…”

Mitogenic stimulation accelerates influenza-induced mortality by increasing susceptibility of alveolar type II cells to infection

“…Although individual risk for mortality is low, a significant subset of infected patients develop pneumonia, the most lethal consequence of influenza (5). Those at the highest risk for infection and complications include pregnant women (6), the elderly (>65 y) (7), the very young (<5 y of age, and especially less than 2 y), smokers (8), those exposed to inhaled toxicants such as oxygen (9) and air pollutants (10), and patients with chronic illnesses such as diabetes and emphysema (11,12). Increased risk is often ascribed to impairment of the immune system, and differential susceptibility of the airway epithelium is seldom considered in mechanistic studies of host factors that predispose to IAV infection and poor outcomes.…”