The humidifier may help fight flu

The air cool and dry winter can give you chapped lips, cracked hands, and now, the study suggests, the greater the chance of getting the flu. A new analysis of the data shows that in conditions of low humidity, Invalid article ID is more likely to survive, or them a better chance to spread from person to person and making its way to you.

The findings also suggests that the use of a humidifier can be a good idea, in places where the spread of the flu represents a serious threat, such as intensive care units, or even from home with a sick child--sensitivity to moisture loving mold and the dispute is not a problem, according to Jeffrey Shaman, PhD., from Oregon State University in Corvallis, co-author of the new study.

"It seems that [the flu virus] the ability to survive and be transmitted person-to-person is significantly affected by how dry or humid air," says shaman, whose study is published in this weeks Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.

The name for this potentially deadly respiratory infection comes from the Italian word for effect; centuries ago, people believed that the influence of the Planet people are ill with the disease. Our science today is a little firmer, but scientists are still not 100% sure how and why the virus spreads, and they remain stumped about why some parts of the world have such a pronounced winter flu season with almost no influenza activity in the warmer months.

Shaman believes he found the answer: its all about moisture. Absolute humidity, it means, which is particularly low in cold weather.

The shaman and his colleague Melvin Kohn of the Oregon Department of health services in Portland revisited a 2007 study that found that the higher the humidity of the slowdown in the spread of the flu among Guinea Pigs. Scientists had measured air humidity by using the relative humidity, or how saturated the air with water vapor.

For example, the relative humidity of 75% would mean that the air is holding 75% of its total capacity of water vapor. The relative humidity is strongly influenced by temperature; the warmer the air, the more water vapor, which can hold, while cooler air cannot hold as much water vapor.

Absolute humidity of the air, on the other hand, refers to the actual amount of water vapor in the air regardless of saturation. The relative humidity of the gas is used as the cars gauge, Shaman notes. It will tell you how full your tank. Absolute humidity represents how many litres in the tank, regardless of the size of the tank.

Shaman converted a Guinea pig from relative humidity absolute humidity, and found that the link between the humidity and flu spreads much more powerful. "The absolute humidity of the air, for reasons that remain unknown, it affects how long the virus remains viable," he says. "It really explains why this marked seasonality in temperate areas."

The researcher also looked at studies, dating back to the 1940s the survival of influenza virus in the air. Some of the included information about the relative humidity of the air, which was converted to the absolute humidity. Once again got a stronger relationship between survival and the humidity of the air.

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