When pollution can make… your flu worse. The Respire association warns of the pollution situation in France while ten regions have been affected by a peak in recent days and underlines the link between fine particles and respiratory diseases, as noted by TF1 Info. "There was a big pollution peak at the end of November-beginning of December, we didn't see anything. There was no measure taken and, behind it, there was a peak of flu, Covid and bronchiolitis, ”says Tony Renucci, director of the association.
A statement confirmed by researchers for several years. The Covid-19 was in particular the revealer: "It is the most polluted cities that have experienced the highest mortality rates", underlines CNRS research director Jean-Baptiste Renard. “Evidence for links between air pollution and viral infections has already been established for the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic,” he adds.
Fine particles can, in particular, have "an indirect role in the diffusion of certain viruses carried by airborne particles and thus accelerate the exposure of the population to viruses".
Words supported by Annette Peters, researcher at the Helmholtz Institute of Epidemiology in Munich: "New evidence that air pollution is linked to infectious diseases", so it is "necessary to act to reduce air pollution for the benefit of the most exposed populations.
