The Many Benefits Of Masks: Masks Are Here To Stay

♦    Besides coronavirus, other air-borne diseases are a major cause of deaths

♦    Every year, around 6.5 lakh people die of air-borne influenza viruses

♦    Air pollution contributes to significant proportion of deaths and disabilities.

♦    Lower respiratory tract infections cause 2.4 million deaths worldwide

Hyderabad: The prevailing coronavirus pandemic has altered the lifestyle of people by adopting measures like social distancing, sanitising hands regularly, wearing masks, etc. These Covid precautionary steps are followed aesthetically by all to prevent the spread of the highly infectious coronavirus.

The study on corona virus reveals that it spreads through human to human contact, through air and touching items containing the deadly virus.

Here it must be noted similar to coronavirus there are many diseases that are air-borne and have taken a significant toll on the human health.

Air-borne diseases are considered as silent killers, which enter a human body through air tract and cause severe damage to the respiratory system and steadily affects multiple organs in the body.

Emphasising the importance of wearing face mask, Dr N Krishna Reddy, country director, ACCESS Health International (India), says, "Every year approximately 6.50 lakh people die due to air borne influenza viruses."

According to the Global Burden of Disease study, "Lower respiratory tract infections cause 2.4 million deaths worldwide (0.65 million in children under the age group of 5 and 1.1 million deaths in adults over 70 years of age."

"Respiratory diseases are the third leading cause of deaths and disabilities globally. Air pollution contributes to significant proportion of these deaths and disabilities. Smoking is the other major causative factor," the study says.

By suggesting that use of face mask should be included in policy agenda, he contends that, "This would reduces the impact of transmission of air borne infections."

Airborne diseases usually result into one or more of the following symptoms such as inflammation in nose, throat, sinuses or lungs. Besides, it also causes coughing, sneezing, congestion, runny nose, sore throat, swollen glands, headache, body aches, loss of appetite, fever and fatigue.

"To prevent these diseases, one needs to wash hands frequently, go for regular immunisation, wear face masks and take steam inhalation besides avoiding venturing out when feeling sick," informed Dr Vrinchi Sharma, director, Manasa Hospital, Hyderabad.

People living near polluting industries are the most affected section of the society. "Respiratory problems like burning sensation in lungs, asthma, chest pain etc., are the common health anomalies here in Shastripuram where residents are coping with polluting industries since a decade," informed Syed Shoukat Ali, a resident of the colony.

Masks' utility stressed

For many years, scientists weren't sure whether wearing a mask was effective at preventing the spread of viruses. However, recent studies suggest they can help. One 2013 study, Trusted Source looked at how masks could help people with the seasonal flu limit spreading it when they exhale droplets containing the virus.

Overall, researchers found masks led to a more than threefold reduction in how much virus people sprayed into the air. Importantly, researchers found that flu rates were lower when masks were paired with proper hand hygiene.

EFFECTIVE SHIELD

When the United States experienced an outbreak of the swine flu in 2009, everyone was talking about how to reduce the spread of the virus… people started doing something most of us hadn't really seen before to stop transmission: wearing surgical face masks.

Now with the recent spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, people are again looking to surgical face masks as a way of protecting themselves and others from the virus, which causes the disease COVID-19 (HEALTHLINE.COM).