How Wildfire Endangers Human Life as a Possible infectious Agent

Wildfire has wreaked havoc in various parts of the world with Australia, Brazil and the United States being the sufferers. According to research conducted by the science journal, wildfire poses a great threat to human life.

Humans are advised not to inhale smoke produced by bushfire in order to avoid complications related to respiratory diseases. 

A report published by the Science Magazine on December 18, indicate that exposure to smoke produced by wildfire increases the risk to conduct inflammatory diseases and respiratory diseases such as bronchitis and asthma.

Wildfire is the major source of bio aerosols which is composed of fungi and bacteria whose metabolic by-products are responsible for causing infections to human beings. The research conducted by scientists further found out that the Pyrogenic carbon formed as a result of wildfire acts as a temporary storage for soil microbes that contribute to the attenuation of ultraviolet-B by 80 percent.

Scientists argue that smoke produced by wild land fire must be closely monitored by health authorities. According to their argument, infection causing organisms could be transferred from the soil to the atmosphere as a result of fire outbreak in forests.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), firefighters are at a greater risk of contracting coccidioidomycosis, a fungus that is transferred from the soil to the air when the soils are interrupted.

Scientists who conducted the research were able to capture microbes in smoke and found an alarming 900 distinct types of bacteria and about 100 different fungi.