Medicine Losing The Battle Against Asthma

Darryl Zeldin, M.D., head of the clinical studies section at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences says "we understand more about the issues...we have better drugs to treat asthmahan in years past, but I don't know that we're impacting the basic parameters. The mortality is the same or going up; the morbidity is going up. We know more, we have better drugs, but we're losin the battle." And, why are kids so vulnerable?

·Children's developing bodies may be more susceptible to allergies, pollutants, weather changes and smoke.

·Childhood asthma featues a genetic predisposition and a strong allergic component. Approximately 75-80% of children with asthma have allergies.

*Dr. Zeldin adds, "because kids are not exposed to as many infectins early in life, their immune systems are developing in a different way."

A study in the January, 2001 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine found that infants taken to day-care ceters are less likely to develop asthma than those children who aren't. They conclude that exposure to bacteria from other kids at an early age may bolster the development of the child's immunity sytem.

They propose that the widespread use of some antibiotics may have played a part in an increase in asthma and allergies worldwide over the last 30 years.

The Bottom Line:

Kids aren't more susceptible today than 10 years ago. If it is genetic, why are our genes getting bad as our drugs get better? If we'd stop looking for the quick fix and work at health developent, we would be healthier.