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Dr Masimba Mavaza Correspondent

THE Zimbabwean Government and indeed many governments have made it mandatory to wear a face mask in public as a health measure to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This has been a huge success in containing the spread of the virus. It should, however, be understood that coronavirus is not defeated by masks alone.

“Wearing a face mask may give a false sense of security and make people reduce compliance with other infection control measures, including social distancing and hands washing.

“So it is clear that wearing a face mask is one thing and there must be discussions on potentially harmful side effects. There must be a clear understanding that the face masks should be maintained and a particular safe material should be used. There are potential side effects of wearing masks for longer periods,” wrote Antonio I. Lazzarino, a medical doctor and epidemiologist from the University College London, in the BMJ journal.

Face masks make breathing more difficult, especially for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as asthma and bronchitis, which causes a decreased air flow.

Also, a fraction of carbon dioxide previously exhaled is inhaled at each respiratory cycle.

In effect, the wearer inhales her or his own exhaled air. Inhaling carbon dioxide causes rapid breathing, rapid heart rate, clumsiness, emotional upsets and fatigue.

Basically, those two phenomena increase breathing frequency and deepness, hence increasing the amount of inhaled and exhaled air.

This may also worsen the clinical condition of infected people if the enhanced breathing pushes the viral load down into their lungs.

The effects are amplified if face masks are heavily contaminated. Face masks demand extreme hygiene.

It is highly recommended that the face mask must not be put on for a long time. In most normal cases, face masks are used in very temporary circumstances.

If they are to be used for a long time, they will cause serious health problems. Carrying a spare mask with you is highly recommended to relieve the other mask should it get less hygienic.

Again, putting on the mask for a long time causes sight problems so we need to limit our time in public.

When one wears a mask, the easiest escape route for exhaled air is upward towards the eyes. This air goes into the eyes, generating an uncomfortable feeling and an impulse to touch your eyes.

If your hands are contaminated, you are infecting yourself. This virus requires you to remain conscious all the time and try to resist the temptation to touch your face.

It also demands that you wash your hands or regularly sanitise them after contact with things like door handles, elevator buttons, packages or anything else where germs and viruses thrive. Notably, for those who use spectacles and sun glasses, air creates fog and messes with one’s sight every moment.

This forces wearer to clean their glasses all the time and the burden is unbearable. With the air forced up the eyes, there is a temptation to touch your eyes and you face a great danger of infecting yourself. It is therefore advisable to train yourself to keep your hands in their place.

This Covid-19 will force us to adopt new mannerisms.

Furthermore, the mask causes a decrease in your immune system as low oxygen levels in the tissues (hypoxia) can suppress some aspects of the immune response. It can also induce and accentuate other important functions of the immune cells.

Scientific investigations have proven that prolonged denial of enough oxygen in your body can cripple the ability of your immune system to tackle infections.

It is recommended that during this period where wearing a mask is mandatory, better to take off the mask when you are away from people and or maintain a distance of up to five meters if you do not have a mask.

Older and younger people wearing a mask are said to be more vulnerable, but any person can suffer these side effects. Face masks can cause a serious skin rash.

It is said that masks, depending on the materials used, may cause allergies, itchiness, and redness on the skin. Over time, custom cloth masks eventually accumulate sweat, makeup and beauty products, automotive exhaust fumes, pollen and any particles floating in the air. All these would seep through your mouth and the number of diseases this causes can never be imagined.

People must not touch their masks, must change their single-use masks frequently or wash them regularly, dispose of them correctly and adopt other management measures, otherwise their risks and those of others may increase. Masks which are made of cloths must be washed with hot water and ironed every night.

The quality and the volume of speech between two people wearing masks is considerably compromised and they may unconsciously come closer. While one may be trained to counteract side effects, this side effect may be more difficult to tackle.

While impeding person-to-person transmission is key to limiting the outbreak, so far little importance has been given to the events taking place after a transmission has happened, when innate immunity plays a crucial role.

The main purpose of the innate immune response is to immediately prevent the spread and movement of foreign pathogens throughout the body.

The innate immunity’s efficacy is highly dependent on the viral load. If face masks determine a humid habitat where the SARS-CoV-2 can remain active due to the water vapour continuously provided by breathing and captured by the mask fabric, they determine an increase in viral load and therefore they can cause a defeat of the innate immunity and an increase in infections.

Our face mask is working double duty to protect everyone. It keeps you from spreading your germs and can stop other germs from getting into you. However, if used thoughtlessly, the masks can also cause unwanted side effects. So the face masks do play a great role in slowing down the spread of the virus, but it must be used with great hygiene.