Intro
As I spend most of my day working in the office I noticed amount of filth that started accumulating around so I started thinking about what health aspects this could have to people who are, just like me, permanently exposed to influence of air conditioner. After some light researching on the web i found out that poor air conditioner can make a mess of your life, literally. Especially if your immune system is weaker or you’re a woman subject to infections.
References and additional reading for those interested in subject:
About
Though air conditioning is used all over the world for cooling offices and homes but it has several negative influences that are not recognized by its users. Along with making the environment comfortable in the hot regions or in summer season air conditioning also contaminates the air with organic particles and deals with several health issues.
According to Don, my neighbor specializing in installation process and feedback he gathered during his career ,it has been proved that air conditioning helps in spreading several diseases. I tried browsing couple of vendor sites to be able to collect more info from the first hand but info about health implications of air conditioning is generally vague. I managed to get some info from one of them, AirConWA, Perth based air conditioning vendor and this is some brief information in this regard.
Worsen respiratory problems: Microorganisms and mold grown in the drain pans and the cooling coils during condensation may aggravate respiratory problems by constant use of air conditioning.
It can worsen the condition of the people suffering from the problems of bronchitis, asthma and other illnesses related to their respiratory system (especially female’s) including short breathing, lung infection, coughing, wheezing and symptoms of upper respiratory tract.
Contamination of indoor environment: It has been warned several times that air conditioning helps in increasing amount of indoor pollutants in the room as compared to the contaminated air in the open. Molds, bacteria, viruses, mildew, animal dander and pollen grown in the air conditioning units can spread pollutants in the indoor environment.
People who spend most of their time in air conditioned environment may get infected with various respiratory problems and other serious diseases like cardiovascular illness.
Workplace illnesses: Several studies had proved that the symptoms of workplace illnesses are found more among the people working in the office building providing air conditioning facility for their workers. Fatigue, headache, breathing difficulties, skin irritations and mucous membrane irritation are some of the workplace illness symptoms that are found among the people working in office buildings with air conditioning facility. It has been proved through various researches that the defective ventilation system of the air conditioning system is the root cause of these workplace illnesses.
Spread various diseases: The reports published in the New England Journal of Medicine about Memphis Hospital in 1980 had declared that air conditioning was the main cause of spreading of Legionnaires’ disease. The pneumophila present in the cooling water of the hospital air conditioning unit was the root cause of spreading Legionnaires’ disease among a number of persons in the hospital.