Cause and Effect

Readers digest
Causes and Effects of Air Pollution
When air gets polluted with dust, smoke, motor vehicles, mills and factories etc. is called
air pollution. We know that air is an important element of our environment. But it is a matter of
great regret that it is being polluted day by day in different reasons. There are different kinds of
reasons of air pollution.
In agricultural sectors, farmers often use insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers etc.
These get mixed with air and causes air pollution. Besides, Ammonia is a very common by
product from agriculture related activities and is one of the most hazardous gases in the
atmosphere.
Burning of fossil fuels like coal, petroleum and other factory combustibles is one the
major causes of air pollution. Smoke emitting from vehicles like buses, trucks, jeeps, cars,
trains, airplanes etc. causes air pollution.
The effects of air pollution are global warming and causing diseases. Air pollution causes
global warming in a great scale. With increased temperatures worldwide, increase in sea levels
and melting of ice from colder regions and icebergs, displacement and loss of habitat have
already signaled an impending disaster if actions for preservation and normalization aren't
undertaken soon.
The effects of Air pollution are very harmful for health. It causes different kinds of
respiratory diseases like heart attack, Cancer, bronchitis etc. Every year millions of people of all
over the world die due to direct or indirect effects of air pollution.
In the long run, it can be said that it is the right time to protect air pollution. To create a
better place to live in for the human being and wilderness we have stop air pollution.

Differences between dengue and chikungunya

Straits Times (30 May 2013)
Chikungunya and dengue fever are both viral infections spread by the Aedes mosquito.
The viruses are transmitted from human to human by the bites of infected female mosquitoes. A
mosquito carrying either virus can infect more than a dozen people in its lifetime. The Aedes
aegypti is more likely to spread dengue and the Aedes albopictus, the chikungunya virus.
However, both types of mosquitoes can spread both diseases. Both diseases are on the rise.
Chikungunya, which is endemic in Africa and the Indian subcontinent, was unknown
here until 2008, when Singapore had its first locally transmitted case. A major outbreak followed,
with 690 people coming down with it that year and another 343 the following year. But the
National Environment Agency broke the chain of transmission, resulting in only three to six
locally infected cases annually for the past three years. So far this year, 186 people have been
infected here.
Dengue fever, a more familiar adversary, is also rampant this year, with the number of
cases hitting 8,001 as of yesterday. This is about 50 per cent higher than the 4,632 cases seen
in the whole of last year. There were 5,330 cases in 2011. A person can be infected with both
diseases at the same time.
Dr Mukund Doshi, a specialist in internal medicine at Parkway East Hospital, said cases
have been documented in Africa where patients have been infected with both dengue and
chikungunya at the same time. He does not know if there are any such cases here.
Symptoms for chikungunya and dengue are almost identical - high fever, headache, eye
ache, joint pain, rashes and lethargy. Several methods can be used for diagnosis. Blood tests
can detect the dengue virus or chikungunya virus in the blood during the first few days of
infection, or antibodies against the viruses subsequently. The test to check for the virus is done
if doctors suspect that the patient has either dengue or chikungunya infection. The fatigue that is
caused by both viral diseases can last weeks and even months. In some cases, the joint pain
caused by chikungunya may persist for several months, or even years. Chikungunya is rarely
fatal, but dengue can be.
In 2005, 14,000 people fell sick with dengue and 25 died. So far this year, no one has
died from dengue. Currently, no vaccine is available for either dengue or chikungunya. Some
dengue vaccines are being tested but they have not been approved yet, said Dr Doshi.

Source: The Straits Times Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission.