May is Asthma Awareness Month 2014

 

May is Asthma Awareness Month, and the National Institutes of Health is emphasizing the scientific progress being made in asthma research, from basic science, such as how lung cells work, to clinical trials on current and future treatments for the disease. NIH-led research includes studies of environmental factors, how the body's own defense system plays a role, and the microbiome - all the microbial organisms that live in and on the human body.

 

Asthma is a disease of the lung in which the airways are inflamed. Because of this inflammation, the airways can easily narrow, causing symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and difficulty breathing. Asthma is estimated to cause millions of urgent medical visits and missed school and work days in the United States each year. In some cases, the disease can be fatal.

Roughly 8 percent of adults and more than 9 percent of children in the United States have asthma according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

Environmental Factors

 

NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) research focuses on how environmental factors impact diseases such as asthma, and how to prevent these diseases. New research has shown that different kinds of air pollution affect asthma differently. For example, ultrafine particles from vehicle emissions get deeper into the lungs where the effects may be more significant. Other studies have shown that being overweight or obese increases sensitivity to indoor air pollution in urban children with asthma. Work at NIEHS has also revealed that allergic responses to specific environmental agents such as allergens from pets, pests, and molds, involve many different types of immune cells in the lung.  

 

Asthma and the Immune System

 

NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases) research focuses on understanding the immune system's role in asthma and on identifying new strategies to treat and prevent the disease. For example, studies conducted through NIAID's Inner-City Asthma Consortium (ICAC) have shown that programs aimed at decreasing exposures to household allergens, such as dust mites, cockroaches, and rodents, and at implementing guidelines-based asthma therapy can reduce disease symptoms and health care visits.

 

News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.