Asthma: Causes, Symptoms and Diagnosis

Asthma is an allergy-related disease that involves intermittent bouts of coughing, wheezing and breathing difficulty because of narrowing of the breathing tubes leading into the lungs. This narrowing is caused when the lining of the tubes becomes inflamed and swells. The muscles in the walls of the tubes go into spasm and the tubes fill up with phlegm or mucus. A whistling or wheezing sound may be produced when air moves through these narrowed tubes. Asthma is a common childhood disease compared with other diseases.

Asthmatic children are born with sensitive tubes (bronchi) which, at some point in the child's life, begin to react to things in the environment such as allergens or viruses. Once this happens, the child begins to cough or wheeze frequently. This tendency is inherited. If you or your spouse have asthma, your child is more likely to develop asthma too. But exactly why it affects some children and not others in the same family is not known

When should you suspect asthma?
If your child wheezes as he or she breathes, asthma may be the cause. There are other symptoms to watch for as well. Frequent or extended periods of coughing and chest rattling, or "chestiness", especially at night or in the early hours of the morning may be asthma signals. Children who are repeatedly diagnosed as having bronchitis or pneumonia and show no improvement when treated with antibiotics may also have asthma. Finally, children who have other allergic problems such as eczema or hay fever and then develop prolonged or frequent bouts of coughing or wheezing should be suspected of having asthma.