kolkata triggered by emission from crackers that shot up 16 times above the safe limit on sunday night a thick choking blanket of smog hung low over kolkata early on monday it indicated the presence of harmful particulate matter that led to the spurt in pollution level and is set to take a toll on the health of cardiac and respiratory ailment patients warned doctors particulate matter spewed through fumes generated by crackers can infiltrate lungs and enter the bloodstream leading to cardiac ailments or aggravate existing heart diseases they pointed outcadmium mercury sulphur and carbon dioxide particles triggered by firecrackers and vehicular emission enter lungs and trigger an inflammatory reaction said consultant arindam biswas these particles are often very small and are categorized as pm 25 that can enter the bloodstream through the nose and mouth eventually finding their way into the lungs and heart inflammation in the lungs or the cardiac arteries can cause severe respiratory distress or myocardial infarction heart attack by blocking the blood flow to these organs said biswastimesviewsudden rise in pollution postdiwali has never been controlled despite heightened measures against the burning of illegal crackers perhaps the focus now needs to be shifted from noisegenerating crackers to fumespewing ones that can have longterm consequences on the healthit could take a decade for the effects of the present rise in pollution to show according to km mandana director of cardiothoracic and vascular surgery at fortis hospital kolkata youngsters getting exposed to this pollution are potential victims they are likely to get cardiac ailments at a younger age than previous generations unless the pollution is curbed said mandanasuch high concentration of pm25 can trigger a series of health issues particularly in children and elderly said arindam dasgupta a respiratory and sleep medicine physicianthe immediate effect of a spurt in pollution levels however is breathing distress and asthma attacks added mandana asthma and lung patients need to be careful about the pollution and take guard against an immediate impact said mandanathe number of patients seeking treatment and admission for lung ailments jump almost ten times at this time of the year according to fortis hospital pulmonologist raja dhar these are people with existing lung ailments mostly asthma and copd mortality too rises between october and december and this is directly linked to the spurt in pollution he said