Asthma is a condition that affects the bronchial tubes, or air passages to the lungs. The disease is characterized by the tightening of these passages in the lungs. Asthma is a chronic condition because people must live with it their whole lives.
Symptoms of asthma include:
- Airway obstruction, caused by allergy causing substances and environmental factors which cause a person to feel short of breath.
- Inflammation caused by the red and swollen bronchial tubes that all people with asthma have.
- Airway irritability, people that have asthma have very sensitive air passages, and tend to react to small substances like pollen, mold or dust.
Asthma affects 12-15 million Americans, and 10-12 percent of them are children under age 18. If you have a family history of asthma, have allergies or are exposed to tobacco smoke then you are more likely to develop the disease.
In most cases your family medicine physician or pediatrician can diagnose and treat asthma. When required they will recommend a consultation with an appropriate specialist.