Don't breath, Beijing.

Until reading the article, "Beijing Smog Contains Witches' Brew of Microbes" (January 31, 2014) I took for granted the amount of fresh air we have in the United States. We are all fully aware that lots of fresh air is vital to our existence, but its easy to forget that some people don't get this privilege. According to Chinese researchers, there are 1,300 different microbial species in a smog that struck Beijing in January 2013. The researchers used a process called genome sequencing to observe the amount of microbial species in the Beijing air. Luckily, a majority of the microbes are fairly harmless, but some are still responsible for allergies and respiratory disease. The author of the article, Mark Peplow, states that, "the scientists took 14 air samples over 7 consecutive days and filtered out two types of particles: those measuring less than 2.5 micrometres across, and those up to 10 micrometers across..." From the tests, the scientists found three species of microbes: Geodermatophilus obscures, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Aspergillus fumigatus. The most abundant species was Geodermatophilus obscures which is, according to the article, "a common soil bacterium." The other bacteria, unfortunately, don't sound as mild. Streptococcus pneumoniae causes pneumonia, which becomes clear from its name "pneumoniae". Aspergillus fumigates is a, "a fungal allergen; and a range of other bacteria typically found in feces." Its very obvious to me why this strange Beijing smog is being studied. Breathing in pneumonia and feces microbes is not something I want to do every time I step outside. Sadly, this article does not come with a very happy ending. Peplow states at the end of the article that, "In the past few years, public pressure has persuaded the Chinese government to tackle the country’s growing air pollution problem. But for now the smogs continue." He also says that the, " PM2.5 levels in Beijing rose above 600 micrograms per cubic meter" and people have been advised to stay inside. If you ask me, this isn't something to just ignore. If you are being forced to stay inside your home because you might die from breathing outside, its time to take action. Hopefully, these studies can lead to some resolutions. Until then, stay inside people of Beijing.