Cold-Induced Wheezing = High Asthma Risk in Kids
Almost 90% of young children who wheezed with a cold before they turned three developed asthma by age six, according to a new study. Why is that significant?
Here’s why:
[m]uch attention has been focused on another common infectious agent, known as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Young children who are hospitalized with RSV infections have a high risk of developing asthma later in childhood.
“When we started this study we fully expected to find that RSV was the big culprit, but that is not what we found,” says Robert F. Lemanske Jr., MD.
Bottom line here is, if your baby or toddler wheezes during just one bad cold, there’s no guarantee she’ll go on to develop asthma but keep an eye out for future signs. (via the American Lung Association)
Steroid Inhalers Less Effective in Obese Asthma Patients
Remember this link about obesity worsening asthma? And how obesity also meant higher oral steroid use for most patients? Well, this research shows that maintenance steroid inhalers–like the Flovent AG uses, for example–are 40% less effective in obese and overweight patients than those who aren’t.
20-Year, $3.2 Billion U.S. Kids’ Health Study Starts in January
In the National Children’s Health Study, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will follow 100,000 children in the womb and all the way until they reach 21 years in order to study issues including autism, cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, birth defects, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, asthma, heart disease, and obesity.
FDA Has PR Problems After, Um, Hiring a PR Firm
If you read Asthma Mom regularly, you know the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been having problems and, according to a report back in December 2007, needs more money, updated technology, and a better-trained scientific staff. Now the agency’s in hot water over how it went about hiring–and then firing, when the Washington Post reported the story–a new PR firm, presumably to portray itself in a better light.
USDA: Cook Frozen Chicken Dinners to Avoid Salmonella
I realize this seems like a no-brainer, but bear with me a minute. There have been 32 cases of salmonella reported in 12 states, and the USDA has traced the problem to frozen breaded or stuffed chicken. People were microwaving the meals instead of using the oven, and I guess the microwave doesn’t heat the interior to the 165 degrees that will kill the salmonella. Or people weren’t keeping them in the microwave long enough to reach that temp.
AIDS Virus Has Been Around Longer than Previously Thought
This one’s been all over the news lately. Scientists now think the AIDS virus started circulating among humans sometime between 1884 and 1924 and probably around 1908. African cities were growing and developing during this time, a factor that may have led to its spread. If its early development surprises you, apparently it probably shouldn’t:
Experts say it’s no surprise that HIV circulated in humans for about 70 years before being recognized. An infection usually takes years to produce obvious symptoms, a lag that can mask the role of the virus, and it would have infected relatively few Africans early in its spread, they said.
My easily scared and semi-neurotic brain extrapolates: what awful virus could be circulating today, unrecognized and poised to explode? Which leads to thoughts of the bird flu and a worldwide pandemic–whether flu-related or otherwise–and finally leads me to shut down this chain of reasoning and go think about something less terrifying.
Politics: only slightly less terrifying.
“Turning the Page” on this Scary Economy
At the very, very end of a Washington Post article on the McCain camp’s final-campaign-month plan to go after Obama more aggressively was this paragraph:
“We are looking for a very aggressive last 30 days,” said Greg Strimple, one of McCain’s top advisers. “We are looking forward to turning a page on this financial crisis and getting back to discussing Mr. Obama’s aggressively liberal record and how he will be too risky for Americans.”
As just about every newspaper out there is reporting, Strimple probably regrets making that statement in this economic climate. I don’t know that I need to add anything except,
I would love to “turn the page,” but that would involve “selling my house” in a market full of foreclosed homes and people who have “lost their jobs.”
In fact, I’m sure other Americans would love to forget the financial crisis, also – too bad lack of meaningful employment, a home, or (like me) the inability to sell a current home won’t let them. Also? Good thing McCain-Palin are putting “Country First” by embarking on a smear campaign against Obama instead of addressing these crucial problems.
(I guess I did have something to add after all.)
Less terrifying and depressing: Halloween links.
Carved Pumpkin Masterpieces on This Old House
These are light years above the grinning, snaggle-toothed jack-o’-lanterns that the Asthma Mom household manages each year. Who knows? Maybe they’ll inspire me to reach for greater pumpkin heights this Halloween. I better get practicing.
Tricked-Out Caramel Apples from Chow
Caramel and ganache fillings inside the apples in addition to the outside coating? I am so there. I don’t even like marzipan, but that one at the end sounds incredible.
The History Channel on Halloween
I love History.com’s holiday pages. They’re full of interactives and features like “Ancient Origins” and “Historic Haunts.”
Love the Halloween stuff!
I wish the election would focus on what needs attention (economy, healthcare, jobs, foreign relations) rather than descending to “smear thy opponent”. It’s the worst PR ever to toss your message to the side and start calling your opponent a terrorist. Almost like refusing to answer question because you choose to “look forward and not back”.
Lately I feel like Cynicalgirl not Asthmagirl.
When I saw the first headline, I thought it was going to be about cold as in temperature induced asthma. I took the dog out tonight and it was pretty chilly, and I was thinking that we aren’t far off from nights where the cold air makes me wheeze a bit.
Asthmagirl, Here’s the message I read: “Look over here! The economy sucks, and we know you’re going to blame our party! But look! Obama’s unsafe and scary and that’s WORSE! No, I said don’t look over there! Here! Look HERE!”
Anyway. I vacillate. I’m cynical at the same time that I’m hopeful. Who’d have ever thought FLORIDA would lean Democrat after we pretty much clinched the deal for Bush in 2004? And yet, here we are.
Allie, I don’t envy your asthma of course, but I’m awfully jealous of your climate right now. It’s STILL in the 80’s here.