Episode description

Have you ever wondered how the air we breathe can cause respiratory irritation?  What is in that haze or smog that sometimes blankets urban cities?  Sure, it probably contains chemicals and maybe even smoke - but there's a lot more to it than just a chemical soup.  In today's Livestream we're going to deep dive into particulate matter, or PM and review what's known about the fungal contribution. Then we're going to look at the inflammatory potential of mould fragments in the PM2.5 and PM10 and ultra small size ranges (yes, even down to the nanoscale).  Then we'll look at how cytokines are involved.  From this perspective, we'll then look into the connection between particulate matter and the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 infection levels.  There's some excellent emerging research saying that the worse the PM, the higher the number of cases of COVID-19.  Watch the livestream to see if it's just the presence of PM that causes for example an immune reaction, perhaps pre-disposing people to SARS-CoV-2 or if the particles themselves are transmitting the virus.

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