It’s not easy for people who are used to living near sea level to visit a high-elevation site for any length of time. But scientists are traveling to La Rinconada, Peru, to study the people who live there, both those who are healthy and those who suffer from altitude sickness. The town is situated high in the Andes at 16,700 feet, or twice the elevation of Aspen, Colorado.
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The scientists, led by physiologist and mountain enthusiast Samuel Vergès of the French biomedical research agency INSERM in Grenoble, had set up a makeshift lab here in the world’s highest human settlement, a gold-mining boomtown at 5100 meters in southeastern Peru. An estimated 50,000 to 70,000 people live here, trying to make it—and, many hope, strike it rich—under brutal conditions. La Rinconada has no running water, no sewage system, and no garbage removal. It is heavily contaminated with mercury, which is used to extract the gold. Work in the unregulated mines is back-breaking and dangerous. Alcohol abuse, prostitution, and violence are common. Freezing temperatures and intense ultraviolet radiation add to the hardships.
La Rinconada’s most defining feature, however, the one that lured the scientists, is its thin air. Every breath you take here contains half as much oxygen as at sea level. The constant oxygen deprivation can cause a syndrome called chronic mountain sickness (CMS), whose hallmark is an excessive proliferation of red blood cells. Symptoms include dizziness, headaches, ringing ears, sleep problems, breathlessness, palpitations, fatigue, and cyanosis, which turns lips, gums, and hands purplish blue. In the long run, CMS can lead to heart failure and death. The condition has no cure except resettling at a lower altitude—although some of the damage may be permanent.
People whose ancestors have lived in high elevations for thousands of years have genetic differences that help them cope in a low oxygen environment. Some people who don’t are able to adapt, but other get sick. Research into the differences between these groups may lead to breakthroughs in other heart and circulatory ailments, but actually performing that research is grueling. Read about La Rinconada and the search for answers about altitude sickness at Science magazine. -via Digg
(Image credit: Hildegard Willer)
Source: neatorama