Asthma Healing

Asthma is an ongoing condition that interferes with breathing by preventing air from flowing freely in and out of the lungs. When your child has asthma, his or her airways are inflamed. As a result, the airways are especially sensitive and easily irritated. When irritated by a trigger, airways swell up and the muscles around them constrict, blocking the flow of oxygen to the lungs, making it hard to breathe.

HE stashes the regulation firefighter's helmet issued by his employer, the Fire Department of the City of New York, at home because his wife "likes to look at it" and because, being a pulmonary specialist who fights fires in the lungs, not in the neighborhoods, he does his best work when he isn't wearing it.

Inhalers are an effective treatment for asthma and other respiratory diseases, but they can have adverse side effects. The conclusions of studies on these effects apparently depend in part on who pays for the study.

(Reuters) -- Federal regulatory advisers on Wednesday recommended strengthening safety warnings on GlaxoSmithKline's asthma drug Serevent amid reports of deaths in children taking the treatment.

GWENDOLYN STRETCH, the medical director at the Elsie Owens North Brookhaven Health Center, in Coram, had a lot to do during the 20-minute appointment with her next patient. After examining Nelia McPherson, 44, a chronic asthma patient from East Patchogue, Dr. Stretch renewed prescriptions and discussed some of the risks that could trigger an asthma attack — including rugs and plastic covers on mattresses. Atop the doctor’s priority list was to encourage her patient to stop smoking.

Asthma control is about more than just treating symptoms. It’s about managing your asthma so you have few or no symptoms in the first place.

By ERIC NAGOURNEY

Could indoor pools be contributing to the increase in asthma among children?

By PHILIP M. BOFFEY, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES

Leading experts and professional groups are challenging the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the nonprescription use of an inhaler drug for asthma.

LEAD: The nation's death rate from asthma has increased by more than 30 percent in seven years, and nearly 10 million Americans are now affected by the disease, Federal health officials say.