Curing an Ill Wind

Moving up out of the desert each spring and fall, the khamsin is an ill wind that blows no one in the Middle East any good. It picks up hot air and dust as it sweeps across Africa and the Sinai Peninsula, bringing a variety of afflictions in its northerly thrust. The moistureless air causes feet to swell painfully, noses and eyes to itch and asthmatics to gasp for breath. The khamsin can also madden men. Automobile accidents are far more frequent when it is blowing, crime rates increase by as much as 20% and tempers rise with the mercury. Judges in some Arab countries take a lenient attitude toward crimes committed during the khamsin.

Zero Humidity. Most Middle Eastern countries have learned to live with the problem. The Israelis, however, are trying to do something about it. A team headed by Professor Felix Gad Sulman of the Hebrew University's Department of Applied Pharmacology in Jerusalem has conducted a nine-year study that has not only identified the medical causes of the khamsin's curse but also devised treatment for it.

The findings could have international significance, since wind-borne woes afflict millions of people on several continents. Italy suffers each year from the effects of the sirocco, France from the mistral, the Alpine regions from the foehn. Chinook winds bring a touch of seeming madness to the Rocky Mountain area each winter, and the Santa Ana wind makes thousands of Californians miserable. Sulman's experiments show that this misery may be lessened.

His team had an ideal laboratory. Jerusalem has up to 150 days of khamsin a year, during which time temperatures soar above 90DEG while the relative humidity plummets toward zero. Half of the city's population suffer from some kind of khamsin-related condition. For many, the misery is minor, such as swelling of the extremities. For others, how ever, the effects are far more pervasive.

The hot, dry atmosphere produced by the khamsin contains an excess of positive ions. Young people, whose metabolic rates tend to be high, react to such atmospheric conditions by absorbing positive electrical energy like a storage battery, until they literally become overcharged. Their hair becomes electrified and stands on end, and they develop migraine headaches and nausea. They become tense, irritable and occasionally violent. They also secrete large amounts of serotonin, a hormone associated with the nervous system.

Many older people have an entirely different reaction. Long-term exposure to the enervating heat appears to lessen their production of adrenaline, a hormone that maintains blood pressure and helps regulate cardiac function. The older folk become fatigued, apathetic and depressed. They may also become faint, thus contributing to the increased number of automobile accidents.

How to Cope. In clinical studies involving 500 people, Sulman's team experienced few problems in treating the majority of patients. Small doses of drugs called monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors aided the elderly by slowing the breakdown of adrenaline. Drugs that prevent serotonin buildup helped those adversely affected by the ionized air. So did the lonotron, a machine the size of a tabletop radio. Developed by Hebrew University scientists, the device supplies negative electricity to an indoor area, bringing relief to overcharged victims.

A third category of khamsin sufferers have more complex reactions. These victims have few specific complaints beyond an extreme sensitivity to the rapid temperature changes caused by the khamsin. High concentrations of histamine in their urine suggest that they might be suffering from previously undiagnosed hyperthyroidism, or overactivity of the gland that regulates metabolism. Additional tests have shown that their conditions are aggravated, not directly caused by the khamsin.

Such patients can be helped. Doctors simply give them thyroid-depressing drugs that restore their metabolic balance and increase their ability to cope with the khamsin. But the wind is not yet conquered. Further research is essential before Israel can claim total victory; Sulman's study shows that such an outcome is possible.

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