They are the symbol that human life is always pushing back barriers that were thought to be insurmountable. In La Rinconada, a city of 50,000 people located in the Andes Cordillera, in Peru, the inhabitants are fighting against hypoxia, an oxygen supply that is too low compared to the needs of the body. A case that questions science, so long as it was thought impossible permanent human life at this altitude, 5,300 meters above sea level, reports Le Monde. The highest city on the planet shelters, nearby gold mine operated by locals. Residents whose health intrigued the team of Samuel Vergès, from the Hypoxia and cardiovascular and respiratory pathophysiology laboratory (Inserm / Université Grenoble Alpes). On the spot, the French researchers discovered that all the minors present medical anomalies, like a volume of blood to eight liters, when the average, in the human, is five. Or permanently hyperdilated blood vessels and a right ventricle of the enlarged heart. The consequences of an oxygen level that is too low. life: surprisingly, only a quarter of the inhabitants have the symptoms of chronicle mountain sickness (CMS), or chronic …
