Allergy, the principal cause of bronchial asthma
Written by:Bronchial asthma is one of the most frequent respiratory disease that affects people of all ages. Specialists Allergology estimate may affect over 300 million people worldwide, with a prevalence of between 1% and 18% of the population.
It is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways in which many cells and inflammatory mediators involved. It has, in part, due to genetic factors affecting disease with bronchial airway hyperreactivity and variable airflow obstruction. In a high percentage of patients, asthma is associated with rhinitis.
One of the main causes of this disease is allergy. There are environmental allergens such as house dust mites, fungi, animal dander and pollen of trees and herbs. Less frequently, as pollutants and toxic occupational exposures they are also given.
Asthma can have varying degrees of severity. Most patients have a mild condition with a controlled only preventive measures and timely medication.
Symptoms of asthma
Symptoms that may occur are varied, but the main ones are:
- Cough
- Shortness of breath, feeling of breathlessness
- Wheezing respiratory noise air flow at high speed through the airways narrow
- chest tightness
Asthma Treatment
To establish a treatment, the main thing is to determine the cause to know if there is any responsible allergen and if it can be avoided.
If the cause is an allergen such as animal dander, asthma can be avoided. In the case of dust and fungi, but can not be completely avoided, yes you can try to reduce their exposure.
Regarding the pollen has to be noted that the patient may be allergic to different plant pollens and not always have a spring bloom. The importance of each will depend on where you live and / or work the patient. The most common pollens are the grasses, olive, plane tree, cypress, Parietaria Judaica and plants of the family Chenopodiaceae.
In the event that an allergen has been identified as a cause of asthma, a preventive treatment should be started. In addition, it is also advisable to make a drug treatment with bronchodilators and anti-inflammatory. On the other hand, is specific immunotherapy therapy, which can only receive some patients. This is the only one who can change the course of the disease.
