First, Wear a Face Mask by Dr. Philip M. Tierno Jr

Author:Dr. Philip M. Tierno, Jr. [Tierno, Philip M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale
Published: 2020-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

LUNG STORY SHORT

Did you know there’s a difference in the quality of air that reaches your lungs depending on whether you breathe in through your nose or your mouth? The nose actually filters and prepares air before it reaches the lungs. When a breath of air enters the nose, it is warmed or cooled to an appropriate temperature, humidified, and then filtered by the small hairs of the nose before moving to the lungs.

Next, the air travels along mucous membranes covered with hair-like cells called cilia, which actually beat and move particle-laden mucus away from the nose. Any impurities are carried toward the back of the throat, where the mucus is swallowed. This defense is called the mucociliary escalator. Then the air is ready for the lungs and it moves down the trachea (windpipe). The trachea divides into two bronchial tubes (bronchi). The bronchi further divide into a complex of even finer branches or smaller airways called bronchioles deep inside the lungs.

There are millions of bronchioles in each lung leading to air sacs called alveoli, each of which is surrounded by tiny blood vessels called capillaries. These microscopic alveoli and the capillaries have walls so thin that the delicate membrane allows incoming oxygen to be exchanged for outgoing carbon dioxide. There are about 300 million or so tiny bubble-like alveoli. When oxygen enters the air sacs, it dissolves through the delicate membrane into the blood.

COVID-19 wreaks its havoc by thickening the delicate membranes of the alveoli and capillaries, preventing oxygen from entering the red blood cells. This causes ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) and eventually death by suffocation (hypoxia). Unfortunately, when COVID-19 patients get pneumonia it occurs in both lungs. Fatal cases experience what is called the cytokine storm, which is an immunological overreaction—a systemic inflammatory response syndrome. They also experience cascading multiple organ failure (especially heart and kidney failure). And young and middle-aged people are even more prone to clotting. There may also be an as-yet-unidentified genetic component at play here, especially in fatal cases with younger patients.

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