Asthma • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
How air sanitization systems can help India fight TB, Asthma and other respiratory diseases
For a country repeatedly ranked as being one of the most polluted in the world hosting some of the most polluted cities, air pollution has been a longstanding public health challenge in India. 10 cities in India rank amongst the most polluted cities globally. Responsible for a wide range of diseases and disorders including TB, COPD, chronic bronchitis, asthma, lung cancer and other respiratory conditions, the disruption vis-à-vis health, human productivity and economy has been enormous and far-reaching. For the longest time, this challenge has mostly been conceived and understood in terms of outdoor pollution with maximum policy attention and discussions having been focused on ambient air quality. However, indoor pollution as a health and economic burden has somewhat remained on the policy peripheries and relatively out of the ambit of public discourse. While this needs to be addressed at policymaking and strategic levels, the redeeming aspect is that there are indoor air sanitization systems available many of which offer a great deal of protection from indoor pollution and the resultant diseases. Significantly enough, this tackling of indoor pollution also has a positive spillover effect on the outdoor pollution.
Never underestimate the impact of indoor air pollution
Because of the closed and confined nature of the indoor spaces restricting natural airflows as in an outdoor environment, the pollutants , pathogens and contaminating particles are allowed to build up, grow and even thrive more freely and effectively, and therefore pose a bigger threat to health as people spend most time of the day indoors. As such, according to an assessment, indoor pollution can be up to 10 times worse than outdoor air pollution. In another estimate, the indoor PM2.5 level in most Indian households was found to be 2-13 times higher than the outdoor PM2.5 concentration. While nearly 60% of Indians are impacted by indoor pollution, a whopping 8 lakh Indians perish prematurely every year due to household air pollution.
The reasons behind household pollution
Besides the outdoor pollution infiltrating indoors as well as thermal conditions such as temperature, airflow and relative humidity, indoor air pollution can be attributed to a number of factors including smoking of tobacco, combustion due to ‘unclean’ cooking, building material, furnishings and personal care and cleaning products, and above all, airborne viruses. Although India has made some advances in making a shift to cleaner cooking fuels in recent years, a staggering 660 million people have still not made a complete switchover to modern clean cooking fuels and technologies. On a practical level, given the high population as well as the density of the population with people in general increasingly veering towards consumer products, a majority of which still remain ‘non-green’ in nature, household pollution is partly perhaps inevitable in the country. So, even as we aim to address the broader pollution and climate change through cleaner and more efficient energy production and usage, the long-term need to install air sanitization systems can’t be denied.
Indoor pollution and their respiratory health implications
There are several elements that combine to make up what is called indoor pollution. While each element constituting indoor pollution exercises different health impact on a human body, most spell serious implications for respiratory and lung health. The burning of unclean solid fuel for cooking and other purposes emits plenty of particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and sulphur dioxide, all detrimental to respiratory health. A major emission, SO 2 is particularly responsible for asthma, COPD and cardiovascular conditions. Similarly, NO 2 is a leading cause of increased asthma attacks and other respiratory damages. What is noteworthy is that NO 2 comes even from gas-based stoves. Further, the particulate matter not only aggravates asthma but even causes premature deaths in people with heart or lung disease. At the same time, aerosols which are released by building material, tobacco and consumer products as also cleaning and certain other practices (like paint, perfumes, or burning incense) , lead to lung cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Then while biological allergens stemming from dampness, house dust and pollens cause asthma, allergies and respiratory infections, microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses carried by humans, animals, plants and soils, are responsible for chronic respiratory conditions. Likewise, while radon, a radioactive gas coming from soil or water causes the deadly lung cancer, volatile organic compounds (VoCs) originating from paints and varnishes, building material, furnishings and several household items lead to irritation in nose and throat, damage of liver and kidney with some even causing cancer. Research has also found links between indoor air pollution due to use of biomass as a cooking fuel and prevalence of TB. In fact, an international study conducted in India has established that indoor air pollution was independently associated with TB.
How air sanitization system can be a potent preventive solution
By their very nature, because they possess the capability to neutralize or inactivate the assortment of pollutants, contaminating material and pathogens, an advanced air sanitization system can ward off respiratory diseases occurring in indoor spaces. Typically an air sanitization system consists of an internal motor fan, different types of filters, and air quality sensors and displays. However, the type or the quality of the filter would vary derived from its ability to trap and expel indoor pollution elements and would therefore determine the over-all efficiency and performance of an air sanitization system. This filter could either be a prefilter to trap large particles, or a deodorizing filter to deal with abnormal odor or an advanced HEPA filter to remove pollutants which are as fine as 0.3 microns in size. So when the internal fan sucks the room air and then allows it to pass through the filter, the prefilter would trap large dust particles and dust mites cleaning the air. This partially cleaned air is then subjected to a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter which can theoretically remove at least 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold and even bacteria, and any airborne particles with a size of 0.3 microns. The efficiency of the filter is measured in terms of Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) rating meaning that the higher the rating, the more efficient is the filter. However, some systems use an activated carbon filter which is a specially treated highly porous material capable of adsorbing vapors, smoke and VOCs. At the same time, there are filter-less technologies in the form of ionizers which involve emission of negatively charged ions. These ions then attach themselves with the particles causing the latter to collapse on the surface and therefore requiring them to be vacuumed off afterwards. Another air sanitization technology involves application of germicidal properties of short wave ultra-violet lights with wavelengths less than 290 nanometers to inactivate or kill airborne pathogens and microorganisms like bacteria and viruses. So, with such technologies being available, what differentiates a quality air sanitization system from its peers would be the ability to not only trap but eliminate the pollutants and harmful microorganisms from the indoor space so that there is no scope for their recirculation or proliferation whatsoever.
Therefore, with Covid-induced home-stays and work-from-home culture taking stronger roots in recent times with more time being spent indoors than ever before, there is an exigent need for an air sanitization system in our households. That these systems do not only keep the respiratory and other diseases away in indoor settings where majority of time is being spent now a days.