Sunday, October 14, 2007

Allergy - Charge Up With an Ionic Air Cleaner!

Similar to an ozone cleaner, an ionic air purifier also uses an electrical charge to alter oxygen atoms in the air. There is often confusion between ionic air cleaners and ozone air purifiers. The main advantage of the former is that an ionic air cleaner will not only clear your home of odors and mildew, but also purge your air of dust and pollen.

What are ion air cleaners, exactly, and how well do they work? The theory behind an ionic air purifier will take you back to your days in science class in high school. Most common household pollutants carry a positive charge. These are too light to settle on the ground or furniture, where they can be vacuumed or cleaned. They float about freely in the air that we breathe in our homes. What an ionic air cleaner does, is that it negatively charges the air particles in the room. Now, if you remember some high school science, you know that a positive charge and negative charge when brought close together will experience a magnetic attraction. And voila! As soon as the positively charged pollutant collides with the negatively charged anion, they bond together, becoming too heavy to remain airborne, and sink to the floor. Thus they are out of harm's way and can no longer be inhaled. Regular vacuuming and dusting can get rid of these particles.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, if properly used, these ionizers can lessen the amount of airborne dust in the room by over 50% and also diminish the airborne bacteria by 95%.

As compared to HEPA air filters, people who are concerned about noise pollution in their homes may prefer air ionizers as they are generally silent. HEPA air purifiers make more noise as they use a motorized fan to circulate the air to purify it. Ionic air purifiers, on the other hand, send out the ions or activated oxygen to purify the air, and hence are usually silent. Also, another advantage ionizers have over other purifiers is that its parts do not need regular replacement, as there are no physical filters. Even though most air ionizers don't have a motorized fan, the ionization creates a faint breeze that helps to distribute the ions throughout a room. Some are also outfitted with screens or prongs that catch the particles of dust as they fall to the ground.

Positive endorsements for the ionizer have come from many quarters. In an epidemiological study, it was found that repeated airborne infections of the bacteria acinetobacter in an ICU ward was totally wiped out with the installation of a negative air ionizer. Through the year long study, the infection rate fell to zero, disinfecting the air and thereby stopping the transmission of the infection.

Thus, keeping in mind your concern over noise, reliability and cost of purchase and maintenance, a low-cost ionic air purifier is a reasonably wise purchase.

Jack Smith writes about various topics. This article is free to re-print as long as nothing is changed, all links remained intact, the bio remains in full and the rel="nofollow" tag is not added to any of the links. Thank-you - Please visit room-air-purifiers.info

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Allergy - What Are the Main Allergy Symptoms?

The symptoms play an important role in the diagnosis of every disease in this world. In this particular case, knowing what the allergy symptoms are is the fact that determines people to look for medical advice. The tests that are performed during the diagnosis help the doctor to realize the connection between the symptoms and a certain disease. In the diagnosis of allergy, the main problem is not whether the patient is allergic or not. Instead, doctors try to find out what allergen has caused the allergic reaction.

The allergy symptoms are generic. In other words, the symptoms of a certain type of allergy do not differ from the ones of another type. In addition, the signs that are believed to be allergy symptoms may indicate another health problem. This is why the diagnosis is so important. In order to diagnose allergy, doctors usually perform two tests: a blood test and a skin test. Prior to performing the tests, people may confuse these symptoms to the ones of cold. However, there are some elements that help people to make a distinction between these two health conditions. First, the cause of the symptoms is different, as cold is provoked by viruses while allergy is determined by allergens. Next, the duration differs, as the cold is cured after a period of time that ranges from 2 to 14 days. Allergies may be observed even for a few months, if they are provoked by allergens that are present only during certain seasons. In addition, the treatment and the prevention methods are different between cold and allergy.

First of all, people must know what determines the allergy symptoms to appear. When exposed to an allergen, the immune system sets free histamine into the body. This is a chemical substance that is supposed to fight the presumed intruders. As soon as this chemical substance is released into the body, the allergic reaction is triggered and the allergy symptoms become visible.

The main allergy symptom, and also one of the first to be observed, is the itch of the skin. The intensity may not increase, but the duration of this allergy symptom is equal to the exposure time to the allergens. The itch usually affects the nose, too. In addition, people may experience stuffed nose and watery eyes. Furthermore, the respiratory tract is affected in most types of allergy, while food allergies affect the gastrointestinal tract. Regarding the respiratory tract, the allergy symptoms include lung congestion, cough and wheezing. In rather seldom cases, people may also experience allergy asthma.

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