This was revealed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which said that the number of people with asthma has increased 75 percent while the death rate has increased 40 percent since 1982. In the United States alone, over 15 million people have asthma and over 5,000 die each year.

Asthma is also responsible for increasing hospital admissions among children. In many countries, it is the main cause of emergency room consultations. Worldwide, over 100 million people have asthma.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease in which the airways become inflamed and swollen. As the narrow airways are clogged by extra mucus, breathing becomes difficult. Attacks are usually triggered by physical or chemical substances to which a person is sensitive. These include house mites, cockroaches, pollen, molds, animal hair, and air pollutants.

A person with sensitive airways reacts to these "asthma triggers" and may experience wheezing, a feeling of tightness in the chest or shortness of breath. In children, coughing may be the only symptom of the disease. Children below two years old are especially prone to wheezing because they have smaller airways that are easily obstructed by the accumulation of excessive secretions often seen in asthma.

Proper education is a must in the management of asthma. Knowing everything about the disease, keeping a diary of attacks and symptoms, and avoiding one's asthma triggers are as important as taking one's medicines regularly to be able to live a normal, productive life.

Asthma medications include steroids to control inflammation of the airways and bronchodilators to manage the asthma attack. Inhaled bronchodilators like salbutamol have been the standard treatment in acute attacks because of their fast action, greater efficacy and less side effects. Despite the effectiveness of salbutamol, however, many children continue to have undesirable airway obstruction requiring hospital admission.

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