stories

Childhood Asthma (June 19, 1998)

The death rate from childhood asthma continues to climb, and researchers want to know why! Despite new and effective treatments, the disease has now become the leading chronic illness in children. Science Specialist Ed Yeates has the story

The statistics continue to surprise pulmonary specialists. Asthma deaths among five to 14-year-olds have increased 88 percent in little more than a decade.

Nine-year-old Ben Packer knows all about this pulmonary test. He's had asthma since age one - and he knows what it's like trying to breathe during an attack.

"IT'S LIKE, SORT OF LIKE BREATHING THROUGH A STRAW."

After Ben's test, Dr Alan Bitner examines his 4-year-old brother Alex in an adjoining room at the Intermountain Allergy and Asthma Clinic. Alex too may be showing early signs of the disease. The two boys most likely were born with a genetic predisposition for asthma, but researchers wonder whether there may be more things in the environment now which trigger the disease. Dr Derek Uchida heads up the new asthma prevention clinic at Primary Children's Hospital.

DEREK UCHIDA, M.D., PEDIATRIC PULMONARY SPECIALIST, PCMC: "NUMBER ONE, OUR HOMES ARE GETTING TIGHTER. WE SPEND MORE TIME INDOORS SO WE'RE EXPOSED TO THINGS THAT MIGHT TRIGGER ASTHMA LIKE DUST, PET DANDER, PERHAPS COCKROACH ALLERGEN."

While Ben and Alex get first class care, some of their colleagues in inner city areas may not. They may never see a doctor for asthma, treating it only with ineffective over-the-counter medications. Patients may be exposed to more chemical pollutants in products and outside in the atmosphere. And some researchers believe how a child is exposed to infections like tuberculosis or rubella may affect the development of their immune system.

"CHILDREN WHO HAD A CERTAIN IMMUNE RESPONSE TO TUBERCULOSIS HAD A LESS CHANCE OF DEVELOPING ASTHMA. AND SO PEOPLE ARE REALLY INTERESTED IN LOOKING AT THE WAY THE IMMUNE SYSTEM DEVELOPS."

Dr Uchida says understanding why the immune system in some children protects them from asthma could lead to a vaccine which would prevent it. But a vaccine like that is still a long, long way off.