asthma
What is asthma?
Asthma is a chronic lung disease that causes inflammation and narrowing of the airways. (Chronic diseases are diseases that last a long time.) Asthma causes repeated periods of wheezing (wheezing), chest tightness, shortness of breath and cough. Cough often occurs at night or early morning.
Asthma affects people of all ages but usually begins in childhood. In the United States more than 22 million people with asthma found. Nearly 6 million of these people are children.
General review
The airways are tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs. People with asthma have inflamed airways. This makes the airways are swollen and very sensitive and tend to react strongly to certain substances that are inhaled. Read the rest of this entry »
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Asthma Causes
Asthma is caused by inflammation of the airways. When an asthma attack, muscles around the airways tighten and the lining of the airways swells, which reduces the amount of air that can pass and can lead to wheezing sounds.
Most people with asthma have wheezing attacks separated by symptom-free periods. Some patients have prolonged shortness of breath with episodes of this problem increases, while others may have a cough as the predominant symptom. Asthma attacks can last minutes to days and can become dangerous if the airflow restricted severely.
In sensitive individuals, asthma symptoms can be triggered by breathing in allergy-causing substances called allergens or triggers, such as pet dander, dust mites, cockroaches, mold or pollen. Asthma symptoms can also be triggered by respiratory infections, exercise, cold air, tobacco smoke and other pollutants, stress, food or food allergies. Furthermore, aspirin and other nonsteroidal drugs (NSAIDS) provoke asthma in some patients.