Wildfires ignite infection risks, by weakening the body’s immune defences and spreading bugs in smoke
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Over the past several days, the world has watched on in shock as wildfires have devastated large parts of Los Angeles.
Beyond the obvious destruction – to landscapes, homes, businesses and more – fires at this scale have far-reaching effects on communities. A number of these concern human health.
We know fire can harm directly, causing injuries and death. Tragically, the death toll in LA is now at least 24.
But wildfires, or bushfires, can also have indirect consequences for human health. In particular, they can promote the incidence and spread of a range of infections.
Effects on the immune system
Most people appreciate that fires can cause burns and smoke inhalation, both of which can be life-threatening in their own right.
What’s perhaps less well known is that both burns and smoke inhalation can cause acute and chronic changes in the immune system. This can leave those affected vulnerable to infections at the time of the injury, and for years to come.
Burns induce profound changes in the immune system. Some parts go into overdrive, becoming too reactive and leading to hyper-inflammation. In the immediate aftermath of serious burns, this can contribute to sepsis and organ failure.
Other parts of the immune system appear to be suppressed. Our ability to recognise and fight off bugs can be compromised after sustaining burns. Research shows people who have experienced serious burns have an increased risk of influenza, pneumonia and other types of respiratory infections for at least the first five years after injury compared to people who haven’t experienced burns.
Wildfire smoke is a complex mixture containing particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, ozone, toxic gases, and microbes. When people inhale smoke during wildfires, each of these elements can play a role in increasing inflammation in the airways, which can lead to increased susceptibility to respiratory infections and asthma.
Research published after Australia’s Black Summer of 2019–20 found a higher risk of COVID infections in areas of New South Wales where bushfires had occurred weeks earlier.
We need more research to understand the magnitude of these increased risks, how long they persist after exposure, and the mechanisms. But these effects are thought to be due to sustained changes to the immune response.
Microbes travel in smoky air
Another opportunity for infection arises from the fire-induced movement of microbes from niches they usually occupy in soils and plants in natural areas, into densely populated urban areas.
Recent evidence from forest fires in Utah shows microbes, such as bacteria and fungal spores, can be transported in smoke. These microbes are associated with particles from the source, such as burned vegetation and soil.
There are thousands of different species of microbes in smoke, many of which are not common in background, non-smoky air.
Only a small number of studies on this have been published so far, but researchers have shown the majority of microbes in smoke are still alive and remain alive in smoke long enough to colonise the places where they eventually land.
How far specific microbes can be transported remains an open question, but fungi associated with smoke particles have been detected hundreds of miles downwind from wildfires, even weeks after the fire.
So does this cause human infections?
A subset of these airborne microbes are known to cause infections in humans.
Scientists are probing records of human fungal infections in relation to wildfire smoke exposure. In particular, they’re looking at soil-borne infectious agents such as the fungi Coccidioides immitis and Coccidioides posadasii which thrive in dry soils that can be picked up in dust and smoke plumes.
These fungi cause valley fever, a lung infection with symptoms that can resemble the flu, across arid western parts of the United States.
A study of wildland firefighters in California showed high rates of valley fever infections, which spurred occupational health warnings including recommended use of respirators when in endemic regions.
A California-based study of the wider population showed a 20% increase in hospital admissions for valley fever following any amount of exposure to wildfire smoke.
However, another found only limited evidence of excess cases after smoke exposure in wildfire-adjacent populations in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
These contrasting results show more research is needed to evaluate the infectious potential of wildfire smoke from this and other fungal and bacterial causes.
Staying safe
Much remains to be learned about the links between wildfires and infections, and the multiple pathways by which wildfires can increase the risk of certain infections.
There’s also a risk people gathering together after a disaster like this, such as in potentially overcrowded shelters, can increase the transmission of infections. We’ve seen this happen after previous natural disasters.
Despite the gaps in our knowledge, public health responses to wildfires should encompass infection prevention (such as through the provision of effective masks) and surveillance to enable early detection and effective management of any outbreaks.
Christine Carson, Senior Research Fellow, School of Medicine, The University of Western Australia and Leda Kobziar, Professor of Wildland Fire Science, University of Idaho
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Melasma Dark Spots, & What To Do About Them
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Discoloration (including melasma, sunspots, freckles) accounts for 90% of visible skin aging, and is a risk factor for cancer.
Dr. Shereene Idris, dermatologist, advises:
Beyond sunscreen
Melasma is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that causes darkened patches especially on the cheeks, forehead, and upper lip; it’s worsened not just by UV rays as you probably guessed, but also by heat (including hot baths, hot showers, facial steaming, saunas, etc), stress, and hormonal imbalances.
So, with that in mind,
- Protect from UV and heat: use daily high-SPF sunscreen, UV visors, wide-brim hats (straw is, sadly, inadequate for this, as a lot of UV passes through), UPF clothing, and sunglasses; heat alone can trigger melasma, so stay cool and avoid saunas, steam, and hot yoga.
- Reapply sunscreen properly: she recommends dabbing sunscreen with a beauty blender over makeup for best coverage, saying that sprays are quick fixes but less protective.
- Maintain a strong skincare routine: use brightening ingredients (she suggests: tranexamic acid, kojic acid, licorice root, niacinamide, vitamin C, retinol) to manage discoloration long term; hydroquinone is effective short term.
- Avoid unnecessary triggers: check medications, skip waxing in affected areas, and reduce stress where possible.
- Layer your protection: combine multiple methods—e.g. shade, cooling tools, sun-blocking clothing—for the best prevention and maintenance.
For more on all of this, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
Skin Care Down There (Incl. Butt Acne, Hyperpigmentation, & More) ← for related concerns in places that typically get less sun
Take care!
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Rebounding: Good Or Bad For Joints?
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It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!
Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!
In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!
As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!
So, no question/request too big or small 😎
❝I was looking at rebounder trampolines and wondered if you know if they are appropriate to soften the impact for someone with bad joints to try to regain strength and mobility? I have slightly brittle bones due to some medications, and am hoping to find a good impact exercise to do that will strengthen my bones without breaking them❞
What an exciting plan!
Let us first bring attention to our usual medical/legal disclaimer, and also take the opportunity to note that we are not doctors, let alone your doctors, and certainly cannot speak for your specific condition. Please do speak with your osteopath, physiotherapist, and/or any other relevant medical professionals, before undertaking a new exercise routine.
What we can do, at least, is speak in some general terms, in accordance with what science is available. Let’s tackle this piece by piece:
Exercising in the context of bad joints
For people with bad joints, there’s often something of a catch-22:
- Exercise, and inflame them
- Don’t exercise, and they “seize up”
Hence, the trick is—in few words—to exercise them very gently, while taking them through a full range of motion.
That’s “in few words”, though, so if you’d like it in more words than that, we’ll refer you to our entire main feature that we did on this a little while ago:
When Bad Joints Stop You From Exercising (5 Things To Change)
If the issue with your joints is arthritis, then you might want to consider the relevant portions of:
…as applicable, and if the issue is cartilage problems (which can occur in arthritis and often does, especially osteoarthritis, but is certainly not confined to arthritis), then:
How To Rebuild Your Cartilage ← this is really critical, as it covers exactly what you are looking for; an approach to strengthen weakened joints without further damaging them in the process.
As for whether rebounding will be good for that latter… In principle it certainly can be, for exactly the reason you asked about and we’ve talked about so far (it softens the impact while allowing you to do full range of motion).
However, there are more things to consider, and since there’s overlap, let’s talk about it along with…
Exercising in the context of osteoporosis
There are two ways of looking at this:
- Pros of trampoline rebounding: indeed 80% or more of the impact is absorbed, making it gentle (and yes, the fact that it is still impact work will improve bone density)
- Cons of trampoline rebounding: if you land incorrectly, you may become a heap of broken bones (for this reason, it may be best if your bones are in at least decent condition already before starting)
This is relevant also for the issue with bad joints, independent of osteoporosis or osteopenia (the pre-stage of osteoporosis); in principle it makes the exercise gentler, but it also increases the chance of injury if anything goes wrong.
In terms of what is generally recommended when it comes to osteoporosis and exercising, exercises should be “steady” and “straight”. In other words, no unexpected movements or sudden changes of direction.
For trampoline rebounding:
- Are there unexpected movements? Not if everything goes according to plan, but one misstep may mean disaster.
- Are there sudden changes of direction? Not in the sense described, again, if and only if everything goes as planned.
You may be thinking: well that is fair, but any sporting activity comes with a risk of something going wrong, and that’s true, but there’s definitely a scale from swimming pool yoga on the light end, to horseback polo on the dangerous end, for example.
So the real question becomes: which sporting activities/exercises have the least potential for disaster? And faced with that question, one must admit that a yoga mat carries fewer risks than a trampoline.
You can read more about this topic here: Osteoporosis & Exercises: Which To Do (And Which To Avoid)
Want to learn more?
For more about rebounding on trampolines specifically, and the health claims vs the health science for them (or not, as the case may be), check out:
Putting Mini-trampolines to the Test ← this is an interesting read, mostly concerned with assorted health metrics for healthy participants, rather than with specific conditions, though.
We also shared a video about this a while ago: Rebounding Into The Best Of Health ← this does mention the bone density thing, but not from a perspective of already having low bone density
And finally, if you’d like a kind of exercise that does a lot of the “softened impact resistance work” with less throwing your body around at high heights, then you might want to consider:
What is reformer Pilates? And is it worth the cost?
Take care!
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The Power of Self-Care – by Dr. Sunil Kumar
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First, what this book is mostly not about: bubble baths and scented candles. We say “mostly”, because stress management is an important aspect given worthy treatment in this book, but there is more emphasis on evidence-based interventions and thus Dr. Kumar is readier to prescribe nature walks and meditation, than product-based pampering sessions.
As is made clear in the subtitle “Transforming Heart Health with Lifestyle Medicine”, the focus is on heart health throughout, but as 10almonds readers know, “what’s good for your heart is good for your brain” is a truism that indeed holds true here too.
Dr. Kumar also gives nutritional tweaks to optimize heart health, and includes a selection of heart-healthy recipes, too. And exercise? Yes, customizable exercise plans, even. And a plan for getting sleep into order if perchance it has got a bit out of hand (most people get less sleep than necessary for maintenance of good health), and he even delves into “social prescribing”, that is to say, making sure that one’s social connectedness does not get neglected—without letting it, conversely, take over too much of one’s life (done badly, social connectedness can be a big source of unmanaged stress).
Perhaps the most value of this book comes from its 10-week self-care plan (again, with a focus on heart health), basically taking the reader by the hand for long enough that, after those 10 weeks, habits should be quite well-ingrained.
A strong idea throughout is that the things we take up should be sustainable, because well, a heart is for life, not just for a weekend retreat.
Bottom line: if you’d like to improve your heart health in a way that feels like self-care rather than an undue amount of work, then this is the book for you.
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Tasty Tabbouleh with Tahini
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Tabbouleh is a salad, but it’s not “just a salad”. It’s a special kind of salad that’s as exciting for the tastebuds as it is healthy for the body and brain. Its core ingredients have been traditional for about a dozen generations, and seasonings are always a personal matter (not to mention that Lebanese tabbouleh-makers centuries ago might not have used miso and nooch, as we will today), but the overall feel of the Gestalt of tabbouleh seasonings remains the same, and this recipe is true to that.
You will need
For the tabbouleh:
- 1 cup bulgur wheat
- 1 cup plum tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped (add the peel to a jug of water and put it in the fridge; this will be refreshing cucumber water later!)
- 1 cup chickpeas, cooked without salt
- 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
- 1/2 cup mint, chopped
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
- 2oz fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp white miso paste
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground celery seeds
- 1 tsp ground nigella seeds
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp MSG, or 1/2 tsp low sodium salt (you can find it in supermarkets, the sodium chloride is cut with potassium chloride to make it have less sodium and more potassium)
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (nooch), ground (it comes in flakes; you will have to grind it in a spice grinder or with a pestle and mortar)
For the tahini sauce:
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp white miso paste
- 1 tsp ground cumin
To serve:
- A generous helping of leafy greens; we recommend collard greens, but whatever works for you is good; just remember that dark green is best. Consider cavolo nero, or even kale if that’s your thing, but to be honest this writer doesn’t love kale
- 1 tsp coarsely ground nigella seeds
- Balsamic vinegar, ideally aged balsamic vinegar (this is thicker and sweeter, but unlike most balsamic vinegar reductions, doesn’t have added sugar).
Method
(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)
1) Rinse the bulgur wheat and then soak it in warm water. There is no need to boil it; the warm water is enough to soften it and you don’t need to cook it (bulgur wheat has already been parboiled before it got to you).
2) While you wait, take a small bowl and mix the rest of the ingredients from the tabbouleh section (so, the lemon juice, miso paste, and all those ground spices and MSG/salt and ground nutritional yeast); you’re making a dressing out of all the ingredients here.
3) When the bulgur wheat is soft (expect it to take under 15 minutes), drain it and put it in a big bowl. Add the tomatoes, cucumber, chickpeas, parsley, mint, and spring onions. This now technically qualifies as tabbouleh already, but we’re not done.
4) Add the dressing to the tabbouleh and mix thoroughly but gently (you don’t want to squash the tomatoes, cucumber, etc). Leave it be for at least 15 minutes while the flavors blend.
5) Take the “For the tahini sauce” ingredients (all of them) and blend them with 4 oz water, until smooth. You’re going to want to drizzle this sauce, so if the consistency is too thick for drizzling, add a little more water and/or lemon juice (per your preference), 1 tbsp at a time.
6) Roughly chop the leafy greens and put them in a bowl big enough for the tabbouleh to join them there. The greens will serve as a bed for the tabbouleh itself.
7) Drizzle the tahini over the tabbouleh, and drizzle a little of the aged balsamic vinegar too.
Enjoy!
Want to learn more?
For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:
Take care!
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Nectarine vs Plum – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing nectarines to plums, we picked the nectarines.
Why?
Both are great! But nectarines come out better on balance:
In terms of macros, nectarines have slightly more fiber while plums have slightly more carbs, resulting of course in a lower glycemic index. Plums do have a low GI also; just, nectarines have it better, so that’s a modest first-round win for nectarines.
When it comes to vitamins, nectarines have more of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, and E, while plums have more of vitamins B6, C, and K; the two fruits are equal in other vitamins, so that’s a 5:3 win for nectarines.
Looking at minerals, nectarines have more copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc, while plums are not higher in any mineral. They’re great too, and not far behind nectarines! But nectarines just marginally beat them for each of those 7 minerals we mentioned, so they claim a third win a row here.
In other considerations, both are great sources of polyphenols, and/but plums have more, so that’s a point in plums’ favor.
Adding up the sections makes for a clear overall win for nectarines, but by all means enjoy either or both, as diversity is good!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Top 8 Fruits That Prevent & Kill Cancer
Enjoy!
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The Inflammation Spectrum – by Dr. Will Cole
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We’ve previously reviewed Dr. Cole’s other book “Gut Feelings”, and now he’s back, this time to tackle inflammation.
The focus here is on understanding what things trigger inflammation in your body—personally yours, not someone else’s—by something close to the usual elimination process yes, but he offers a way of sliding into it gently instead of simply quitting all the things and gradually adding everything back in.
The next step he takes the reader through is eating not just to avoid triggering inflammation, but to actively combat it. From there, it should be possible for the reader to build an anti-inflammatory cookbook, that’s not only one’s own personal repertoire of cooking, but also specifically tailored to one’s own personal responses to different ingredients.
The style of this book is very pop-science, helpful, walking-the-reader-by-the-hand through the processes involved. Dr. Cole wants to make everything as easy as possible.
Bottom line: if your diet could use an anti-inflammatory revamp, this is a top-tier guidebook for doing just that.
Click here to check out The Inflammation Spectrum, find your food triggers and reset your system!
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