|
|
 |
 |
Allergic Reactions |
Asthma
Asthma is an allergic reaction provoked by any one of over 200 irritants or allergens
such as house dust mite and pollen. Exercise, emotional disturbance and infections like
bronchitis can also bring on attacks and while there is no evidence that air pollution
causes asthma it can aggravate the condition in people who are already asthma sufferers.
|
|
In Britain about one in seven school children suffer from asthma. This equates to over
one million young people and asthma still kills some 2000 people a year in the UK.
The total number of people suffering from asthma in the UK is about 3,400,000.
Asthma is a narrowing of the airways of the lungs and the inflamed airways become irritated
leading to bouts of coughing, wheezing, breathlessness and chest tightness. A common
symptom of an asthma attack is that is often more difficult breathing out than it is breathing in.
Asthma is treated with two types of drugs. The 'preventers' suppress the underlying
inflammation while the 'relievers' relieve airway constriction by causing the muscles
in the airway to relax and thus open the airways. These drugs are refined and more selective
versions of naturally occurring chemicals and research on laboratory animals has been important
in most stages of the development and testing of these medicines.
The latest drugs block the naturally occurring chemicals that send messages between the cells
involved in airway inflammation and these are being studied in animal models.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
