You can monitor air pollution data in real time on the AAA website at http://193.219.53.11/ap3/ (data is updated every hour).
Effects of particulate matter on human health
Particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of airborne particles and liquid droplets that may contain various components such as acids, sulfates, nitrates, organic compounds, metals, soil particles, dust, soot, etc. KD can also contain biological components: allergens, microorganisms. Saharan dust is a type of particulate matter that originates from the Sahara Desert in North Africa. 48% of desert dust is particles with an aerodynamic diameter close to 10 µm. Quartz is dominated by SiO2 (59.99%), Al2O3 (14.13%), Fe2O3 (6.85%), CaO (3.94%), MgO (2.60%) and K2O (2.35%) , magnetite/hematite, carbonates.
Larger particles (KD10) usually affect a person’s upper respiratory tract, travel to the bronchi, and cause coughing and sneezing. People with asthma, respiratory system diseases and circulatory system diseases, elderly people, babies, children, pregnant women are classified as a risk (sensitive) group of the population, which is most affected by increased environmental air pollution, so they should be more careful.
“Most commonly, irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, shortness of breath, cough, weakened lung function (especially in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), increased susceptibility of the respiratory tract to respiratory infections (especially in children), exacerbated allergic inflammatory reactions of the respiratory tract may occur,” explains the National Irena Taraškevičienė, head of the Public Health Safety Department of the Public Health Center.
