With the recent cold waves, it’s time for the “hot” rumors in December to fade away

At the end of the year, the rumors that have been "making a fuss" for a year have not stopped. This month, hot events have occurred frequently, and various rumors have also "taken advantage of the heat": eating strawberries will cause hemorrhagic fever; "white lights" appeared in many places in Henan, and it was a UFO (unidentified flying object) visiting the earth; the mutated strain of Omicron carries the gene of the cold virus; the more layers of meltblown fabric a mask has, the better the protection effect...

With one cold wave after another recently, these "hot" rumors that popped up in December should also be out of fashion.

Can eating strawberries cause hemorrhagic fever?

The truth: The disease is mainly transmitted from rats to humans

Since the beginning of winter this year, major hospitals in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province have successively received many patients with hemorrhagic fever. Starting from October every year, the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi enters the high-incidence season of hemorrhagic fever, which is also a high-incidence area of ​​hemorrhagic fever in the country. Just recently, the news that "eating strawberries will cause hemorrhagic fever" spread throughout the circle of friends, causing panic for a while. So, is the strawberry an innocent "caught in the crossfire" or the culprit?

"There is no direct relationship between eating strawberries and suffering from hemorrhagic fever." Wang Yimin, chief physician of the Department of Critical Care Medicine at Tianjin TEDA Hospital, said in an interview with Science and Technology Daily that hemorrhagic fever, also known as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, is a natural epidemic disease caused by Hantavirus of the Bunyaviridae family.

my country is a high-incidence area for hemorrhagic fever, and rodents are the main source of infection. Wang Yimin explained that the blood, saliva, urine and feces of rodents infected with the virus contain the virus and are contagious. "When people are bitten by rodents infected with Hantavirus, or come into contact with items contaminated by the excrement of infected rodents, they may be infected with Hantavirus, but the virus does not spread from person to person," he said.

"In fact, it's not just strawberries. Any food that is contaminated with virus-carrying rodent excrement and eaten without being disinfected may cause people to suffer from hemorrhagic fever. It has nothing to do with the type of food," said Wang Yimin.

Finally, Wang Yimin reminded that hemorrhagic fever is a preventable and treatable disease. Hantavirus is sensitive to ether, chloroform, etc., is not heat-resistant and acid-resistant, and is sensitive to disinfectants such as ultraviolet rays, alcohol and iodine. Therefore, in life, as long as we do a good job of preventing and exterminating rats and effectively cleaning purchased food, we can effectively prevent hemorrhagic fever.

"White light" suddenly appeared in many places in Henan. Is it a UFO visiting the earth?

The truth: A space rock entered the Earth's atmosphere

Not long ago, "white lights" appeared in many places in Henan Province at night, lighting up the entire night sky. Although the whole process lasted only 5 seconds, many people still witnessed this spectacle. As a result, rumors appeared online that "the 'white lights' that appeared in many places in Henan were UFOs visiting the earth."

"I have seen the recorded images and I think this is a fireball event." Yan Weiguo, executive vice president of the Tianjin Astronomical Society, said in an interview with Science and Technology Daily that fireballs are a common astronomical phenomenon, which is a luminous phenomenon that occurs when larger space rock fragments enter the Earth's atmosphere at high speed. Its characteristic is that it emits relatively strong light and is sometimes accompanied by an explosion. Rock fragments will burn when they rub against the atmosphere. Small fragments will burn up, and large pieces of debris will fall to the ground as meteorites.

According to the official website of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), on the night when the "white light" appeared, an asteroid exploded over Henan Province, China. The asteroid, which is about 0.5 to 1 meter in diameter, entered the Earth's atmosphere from the sky over Zhumadian, Henan Province, and fell from northeast to southwest, exploding 38.4 kilometers above Magutian Town, southeast of Biyang County, Henan Province. The asteroid's flight speed when it entered the Earth's atmosphere reached 19.7 kilometers per second, exceeding the speed of any missile or rocket in the world.

"There are many asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. For some reason, some asteroids will break away from their original orbits, be attracted by the Earth, and then hit the Earth." Yan Weiguo said that generally speaking, there are departments internationally that specialize in monitoring the dynamics of such asteroids, and they usually issue warnings before an asteroid hits the Earth. However, this occasional fireball event was not predicted by NASA or other monitoring agencies.

Does Omicron carry cold virus genes?

The truth: It is impossible for two viruses to merge

On December 8, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Geneva that the latest epidemic data from South Africa showed that the risk of infection with the mutated new coronavirus Omicron has increased. At the same time, he also said that there is evidence that the symptoms of the disease caused by Omicron are milder than those of another mutated new coronavirus Delta. The recent "emergence" of Omicron has also triggered various speculations. Among them, the saying that "Omicron carries cold virus genes" is widely circulated.

"The Omicron mutant is a new mutant strain of the new coronavirus, similar to the previously appeared Alpha and Delta, both of which are caused by mutations after the new coronavirus spread widely among the population." Chen Chunqi, a professor at the School of Life Sciences of Hubei University, introduced that the Omicron mutant strain was first discovered in South Africa on November 9 this year. The reason why this mutant strain has attracted widespread attention is that its spike protein carries as many as 32 mutation sites, which may cause the virus to escape the immune system and make it easier to infect the human body.

Chen Chunqi pointed out that the Omicron variant strain mainly mutated in the virus's outer shell protein, which is where the virus infects human cells. "Although the virus has mutated, like other mutant strains, the genes carried by the virus are still the genetic material of the new coronavirus. The common influenza virus belongs to the orthomyxovirus. Although the new coronavirus and influenza virus are both RNA viruses, the two types of viruses have different mechanisms of infecting the human body, different processes of virus replication, and different genome structures, so they will not merge together," she said.

The more layers of meltblown fabric a mask has, the better the protective effect?

The truth: Choose the right mask, one layer can achieve the desired protection effect

Delta is still powerful, and Omicron is coming again. Faced with the increasingly contagious new coronavirus, many businesses have begun selling "thickened masks" and "multi-layer meltblown masks", claiming that multi-layer meltblown masks have stronger protection. Some people even wear multiple masks when going out, thinking that this provides better protection.

Is this really the case?

"If you choose the right meltblown cloth mask, one layer can achieve a good protective effect. But if you choose an inappropriate mask, no matter how many layers or how thick it is, it may not be effective." Qian Xiaoming, a professor at the School of Textiles of Tianjin Polytechnic University, said in an interview with Science and Technology Daily that the core of the mask's protective effect is meltblown cloth. During the COVID-19 epidemic, my country's meltblown cloth technology has been greatly improved, and one layer of suitable meltblown cloth can resist the new coronavirus.

Meltblown cloth is made of polypropylene as the main raw material and is composed of ultra-fine fibers. The diameter of the meltblown cloth fibers used in medical protective masks is even finer, reaching 1 to 4 microns, and the holes formed in the meltblown cloth are also very fine, making it impossible for the new coronavirus to pass through.

"Some masks, such as medical surgical masks and anti-smog masks, even if they contain meltblown fabrics, have limited protection against the new coronavirus due to their different production processes; and pure cotton and gauze masks, no matter how many layers they have, will not increase the protection against the new coronavirus." Qian Xiaoming reminded that when consumers buy or wear masks, they should not focus on the thickness or number of layers of the mask, but should pay attention to the protection category of the mask they buy. If you want to resist the new coronavirus, you should buy medical protective masks or N95 masks.

Wearing multiple inappropriate masks will not only fail to prevent the virus, but may make you sick. The "Guidelines for Scientific Mask Wearing by the Public" issued by the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council for the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic clearly pointed out that wearing multiple masks will not effectively increase the protective effect, but will increase breathing resistance and may damage the tightness of the mask.

Qian Xiaoming finally reminded that in order to improve the protective effectiveness of masks, in addition to paying attention to the protective quality of masks, it is also very important to wear them properly. The correct way to wear a mask should be to cover the mouth, nose and chin, and the nose clip should be pressed firmly; if the mask is dirty, deformed, damaged, smelly, or damp, it should be replaced in time; masks that have been used on inter-regional public transportation or in hospitals should not be reused; masks should not be worn inside out.

Science and Technology Daily reporter Chen Xi

Source: Science and Technology Daily, December 30, 2021, Page 8