Jessica Green: Are we filtering the wrong microbes?

Translator: Eulalia Baroja Reviewer: Andres Corral

Humans in the developed world

Os seres humanos do mundo desenvolvido

spend more than 90 percent of their lives indoors,

pasan máis do 90 por cento da súa vida en ambientes pechados,

where they breathe in and come into contact

onde respiran e entran en contacto

with trillions of life forms invisible to the naked eye:

con billóns de formas de vida imposibles de ver a simple vista:

microorganisms.

os microorganismos.

Buildings are complex ecosystems

Os edificios son ecosistemas complexos

that are an important source

que son unha fonte importante

of microbes that are good for us,

de microbios que son bos para nós,

and some that are bad for us.

e algúns que son malos para nós.

What determines the types and distributions

Qué determina os tipos e distribucións

of microbes indoors?

dos microbios nos interiores?

Buildings are colonized by airborne microbes

Os edificios están colonizados por microbios aéreos

that enter through windows

que entran a través das fiestras

and through mechanical ventilation systems.

e a través dos sistemas de ventilación mecánica.

And they are brought inside

Tamén entran a través

by humans and other creatures.

dos seres humáns e outras criaturas.

The fate of microbes indoors

O destino dos microbios nos ambientes pechados

depends on complex interactions

depende de interaccións complexas

with humans,

cós seres humáns

and with the human-built environment.

e co entorno por eles creado.

And today, architects and biologists

E hoxe en día, os arquitectos e biólogos

are working together

están traballando xuntos

to explore smart building design

para explorar o deseño de edificios intelixentes

that will create

que crearán

healthy buildings for us.

edificios máis saudables para nós.

We spend an extraordinary amount of time

Pasamos unha cantidade enorme de tempo

in buildings

en edificios

that are extremely controlled environments,

que son entornos extremadamente controlados,

like this building here --

coma este mesmo;

environments that have mechanical ventilation systems

entornos que contan con sistemas de ventilación mecánica

that include filtering,

que inclúen filtrado,

heating and air conditioning.

calefacción e aire acondicionado.

Given the amount of time that we spend indoors,

Dada a cantidade de tempo que pasamos en ambientes pechados,

it's important to understand

é importante entender

how this affects our health.

como afecta isto á nosa saúde.

At the Biology and the Built Environment Center,

No Biology and Built Environment Center,

we carried out a study in a hospital

levamos a cabo un estudio nun hospital

where we sampled air

onde tomamos mostras do aire

and pulled the DNA

e extraemos ADN

out of microbes in the air.

de microbios do aire.

And we looked at three different types of rooms.

Analizamos tres tipos diferentes de habitacións.

We looked at rooms that were mechanically ventilated,

Analizamos habitacións ventiladas mecánicamente,

which are the data points in the blue.

que son os puntos en azul.

We looked at rooms that were naturally ventilated,

Tamén habitacións ventiladas de forma natural,

where the hospital let us turn off the mechanical ventilation

donde se nos permitiu apagar os sistemas de ventilación mecánica

in a wing of the building

nunha zona do edificio

and pry open the windows

e abrir an fiestras

that were no longer operable,

que xa non se empregaban,

but they made them operable for our study.

pero que se fixeron útiles para o noso estudo.

And we also sampled the outdoor air.

E tamén tomamos mostras do aire exterior.

If you look at the x-axis of this graph,

Se observamos o eixo X do gráfico,

you'll see that what we commonly want to do --

veredes o que normalmente queremos facer,

which is keeping the outdoors out --

que é manter fóra o aire exterior,

we accomplished that with mechanical ventilation.

e o conseguimos coa ventilación mecánica.

So if you look at the green data points,

Se observamos os puntos verdes,

which is air that's outside,

que representan o aire exterior,

you'll see that there's a large amount of microbial diversity,

veremos que hai unha gran diversidade microbiana,

or variety of microbial types.

ou variedade de tipos de microbios.

But if you look at the blue data points,

Pero se observamos os puntos azuis,

which is mechanically ventilated air,

que respresentan o aire ventilado mecanicamente,

it's not as diverse.

non hai esa diversidade.

But being less diverse

Pero que sexa menos diverso

is not necessarily good for our health.

non é necesariamente bo para a nosa saúde.

If you look at the y-axis of this graph,

Se observades o eixo Y do gráfico,

you'll see that, in the mechanically ventilated air,

veredes que, no aire ventilado mecánicamente,

you have a higher probability

hay máis posibilidades

of encountering a potential pathogen,

de atopar patóxenos potenciais,

or germ,

ou xermes,

than if you're outdoors.

que si estamos fóra.

So to understand why this was the case,

Para entender por que ocurreu isto,

we took our data

collemos a información

and put it into an ordination diagram,

e a puxemos nun diagrama de ordenación,

which is a statistical map

que é un mapa estadístico

that tells you something

que dalgún xeito di

about how related the microbial communities are

canta relación existe entre as comunidades microbianas

in the different samples.

nas diferentes mostras.

The data points that are closer together

Os puntos que están mais xuntos

have microbial communities that are more similar

son comunidades microbianas máis semellantes

than data points that are far apart.

que os puntos que están separados.

And the first things that you can see from this graph

O primeiro que vemos no gráfico,

is, if you look at the blue data points,

se observamos os puntos azuis,

which are the mechanically ventilated air,

que representan o aire ventilado mecanicamente,

they're not simply a subset of the green data points,

é que non son un subconxunto do grupo de puntos verdes,

which are the outdoor air.

que representa o aire exterior.

What we've found is that mechanically ventilated air

O que atopamos é que o aire ventilado mecanicamente

looks like humans.

parecese ós seres humáns.

It has microbes on it

Contén microbios

that are commonly associated with our skin

que se asocian xeralmente coa nosa pel,

and with our mouth, our spit.

e coa nosa boca, a nosa saliva.

And this is because

Isto sucede porque

we're all constantly shedding microbes.

estamos constantemente liberando microbios.

So all of you right now

Así que agora mesmo todos vós

are sharing your microbes with one another.

estades a compartir microbios uns cos outros.

And when you're outdoors,

E cando estades fóra,

that type of air has microbes

ese tipo de aire ten microbios

that are commonly associated with plant leaves and with dirt.

que se relacionan coas follas das plantas e a suciedade.

Why does this matter?

Por que é isto importante?

It matters because the health care industry

É importante porque a industria da asistencia sanitaria

is the second most energy intensive industry

é a segunda industria de consumo enerxético

in the United States.

nos Estados Unidos.

Hospitals use two and a half times

Os hospitais empregan máis do dobre

the amount of energy as office buildings.

da exerxía que emprega un edificio de oficinas.

And the model that we're working with

O modelo co que traballamos

in hospitals,

nos hopitais,

and also with many, many different buildings,

e tamén co que traballamos noutros moitos edificios moi diferentes,

is to keep the outdoors out.

trata de manter o aire exterior fóra.

And this model

Pero este modelo

may not necessarily be the best for our health.

pode non ser o mellor para a nosa saúde.

And given the extraordinary amount

Se tamén temos en conta a gran cantidade

of nosocomial infections,

de infeccións nosocomiais,

or hospital-acquired infections,

ou infeccións adquiridas nos hospitais,

this is a clue that it's a good time

temos unha pista de que é un bo momento

to reconsider our current practices.

para reconsiderar as prácticas actuais.

So just as we manage national parks,

Así que ó igual que controlamos os parques nacionais,

where we promote the growth of some species

onde estimulamos o crecemento dalgunhas especies

and we inhibit the growth of others,

e dificultamos o crecemento doutras,

we're working towards thinking about buildings

estamos a traballar en vista a que nos edificios

using an ecosystem framework

se empregue un modelo de ecosistema

where we can promote the kinds of microbes

onde poidamos estimular os tipos de microbios

that we want to have indoors.

que queremos nos interiores.

I've heard somebody say

Algunha xente di

that you're as healthy as your gut.

que un está tan san coma estea o seu intestino.

And for this reason, many people eat probiotic yogurt

E por esa razón moita xente toma iogures probióticos

so they can promote a healthy gut flora.

para estimular a flora intestinal.

And what we ultimately want to do

E o que queremos en última instancia

is to be able to use this concept

é ser capaces de empregar este concepto

to promote a healthy group

para promover os microorganismos

of microorganisms inside.

saúdables nos interiores.

Thank you.

Grazas.

(Applause)

(aplausos)