Influenza or flu is the most common viral infection in human and is thebest indicator of immunity. People with week immunity succumb and those withstrong immunity overcome its infection. Respiratory route or coughing remainsthe major mode of spread/transmission of these infections from human to human,although in first instance some forms of epidemic flu may take a zoonotic route(spreading from animals to human). Man every time comes up with a number ofpreventive and control measures to curb them. Face mask use got promoted in1918 during Spanish flu crisis-the deadliest global pandemic so far. It is saidthat this type of influenza was so dreadful (50 million people died worldwide)that it terrified generations. Previously too, we have witnessed many epidemicsand pandemic flu diseases. These days face mask culture has revived due to theCOVID-19 (the spiky invader of human body), which is now a pandemic and hascreated a havoc in some countries due to its alarming spread and infection rate.Fear is at its peak and apprehensions are growing day by day once it wasdeclared as pandemic by WHO- the worldwide watch dog of health. But sometimesit seems to be an overreacting or just a hype when we know that even commoninfluenza is taking heavy toll of life worldwide. Importantly, the week, older,immunodeficient and immune-compromised human populations are at a greater riskto catch coronavirus infection and die due to its great penetrating power ofinfecting very deep in the respiratory tract and even nearer organs. Thatremains its greatest threat in presence of its low mortality rate overall. Soprecautions and preventions assume highest significance. The positive sign isthat people with well-built immune system overcome its infection in a week ortwo. So our utmost priority should be to take care and strengthen our immunesystem. The simple mantra is taking healthy food rich in fruits, vegetables andproteins.
Despite the innate immune mechanism of our respiratory cavity to tackleinfections, a flu virus thinks in different terms either to suppress or evadethe flu fighting cells of our nasal immune cells that is primarily designed bynature to stop the flu viruses at the nasal chamber thereby providing us anultimate form of security against them. However, everyone looks for a facemaskto supplement the protection against airborne infections the best of which isalready present in our nasal epithelium naturally. But what actually face masksdo for us. Are they helpful in any way? Is face mask culture the part of actualprotocol to prevent viral infections and contamination? Or it is just a hullabulla. Do we have any idea or knowledge how effective are our face masks toward off viral infections. Can they slow or prevent the spread of viral respiratorydiseases or illness. Let us understand that covering mouth and nose with afacemask is no means a respiratory hygiene. Every time a person wears a maskquite often is seen removing and touching his/her nose and mouth and putting itback, that means he is exposing his respiratory tract continuously toinfectious agents through the contaminated hands. Another bad side is that thepoor quality and substandard masks available in the markets is not evensufficient to give protection against bad smells and pollution, virus is aremote word. Secondly, the gap that remains between nose and cheeks, nose andeyes remains the open entry route for infectious agents present in the aerosolsor directly in the air. As the viral load is present in the tiny airborne particlescalled as aerosols coming deep from the lungs of human beings and hover in theair for a time till inhaled by people. Masks can therefore protect us againstlarger droplets not tiny ones, but how do we know the filtration level of masksselling in our markets. Are they designed to stop virus entry into ourrespiratory tract? No, they are not. But the fact is that they do not evenfilter out the aerosols, the only protection they can provide is against dustand fungal spores. Therefore, wearing a mask gives us protection againstpollution not disease. However, wearing a substandard masks even does notprotect us from dust or pollution. Some masks have been designed to filter tinyparticulate matter in the air. For example, N95 and FFP (filtering face piece)respirators or masks are quite popular in world as a means of highestprotection against respiratory airborne infections, however, using them doesnot mean it demarcates immunologically the wearer from bare faced people,neither they make former immune or nor later susceptible. Host physiology andimmunity is of utmost importance in this regard. So face-mask generally do notdo the needful for us but only trap the warm air which is conducive for manypathogens instead.
Let us know it that nature has provided us a great and fool proofresistance cum protection mechanism in nasal lining and sinuses generally knownas MALT (mucosal associated lymphoid tissue- powerful interconnected immunecells and components to protect us) to shun out the infectious and otheragents. And let us also believe it that nature has its own means and ways toregulate life on this earth through a force called as natural selection.Therefore, whatever happens either at regional or global level in the form of abiological catastrophe or illness occurs under the guiding principle of thisnatural selection. Therefore, influenza or flu (in whatever form it comes-SARS, MERS, Swine flu, Bird flu, etc. COVID-19) is a force of nature, you willget it at any cost despite the face mask culture and other forms of hygienepractices. As the global coronavirus response is in struggling phase due to thehypothesis that coronaviruses are unpredictable, people are scary andfrightened. Despite this, jokes and humours are also spreading very fast insocial media about COVID-19.
Khurshid A. Tariq is AssistantProfessor, Department of Zoology, Islamia College of Science & Commerce,Kashmir