Article

2007-02-27 Science & Technology

The Air In There: Contagious Disease And Open Windows

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Posted by Anonymoose 2007-02-27 08:52|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Sunlight kills a lot of the little critters too. So fresh air and a little light go a long way. Next up: Chicken soup.

Posted by Excalibur 2007-02-27 10:13|| 2007-02-27 10:13|| Front Page Top

#2 My mother knew this back in, like, 1962...

Posted by tu3031 2007-02-27 10:20|| 2007-02-27 10:20|| Front Page Top

#3 Somewhat problematic in the midst of a Buffalo, NY winter, though.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-02-27 12:01|| 2007-02-27 12:01|| Front Page Top

#4 Just wait for the global warming, TW. It's a killer!

Posted by BA 2007-02-27 13:00|| 2007-02-27 13:00|| Front Page Top

#5 I always find it interesting that our ancestors knew more about a lot of things than we do today. Maybe because they actually took note of what was going on around them and then came up with a solution instead of plopping down in front of American Idol and listening to the MSM?

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2007-02-27 13:28|| 2007-02-27 13:28|| Front Page Top

#6 Same thing will hold true when the promised pandemic arrives: experts will scratch their heads and spend countless hours researching the transmission methods for the disease and how it arrived in (fill in country of choice here). Closed circuit environmental air on aircraft will be the culprit; rather than vent the spent air overboard and constantly take in new air and condition it to suitable levels, all modern aircraft recirculate it, and dump only a small percentage overboard. all in the name of fuel usage. adding air scrubbers to the commercial fleet now would go a long way to minimizing the threat from airliners.

Posted by USN, Ret. 2007-02-27 14:49|| 2007-02-27 14:49|| Front Page Top

#7 USN, Ret,

I've gotten sick the last three times I flew. I'd go out for about three days and it would come on when I was boarding the return flight. I sit on the plane with a runny nose and the person sitting next to me wishes her or she wasn't. Sucks.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2007-02-27 15:23|| 2007-02-27 15:23|| Front Page Top

#8 Our ancestors knew some things about it, learned the hard way, because epidemics of all sorts were common. Yet in 1918, while the medical community knew about pathogens and antiseptics, the public at large was fairly ignorant of it. They just had ideas passed around, from old wives tales to good ideas.

If a family could afford it, they had a "sick room", like a walk-in closet, but losing a child to disease was very common.

A good example of a bad idea happened in Indiana, where a rumor started that a type of hand knitted woolen sweater was proof against the flu. Its sales jumped, then slumped when the truth came out.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-02-27 15:27|| 2007-02-27 15:27|| Front Page Top

#9 I always find it interesting that our ancestors knew more about a lot of things than we do today.

I don't think they knew more, per se. In fact, it could be a little bit of the opposite case: ignorance and bliss. I think we "know" so much now we're becoming ninnies about a lot of things.

Posted by eLarson 2007-02-27 15:27|| http://larsonian.blogspot.com]">[http://larsonian.blogspot.com] 2007-02-27 15:27|| Front Page Top

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