A S T H M A

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General Disclaimer

This Web project was developed as part of "Internet Resources" courses offered by the Biology and Geology departments of the California State University, Los Angeles in 1995 and 1996. It was submitted to the instructors for evaluation and then placed on-line by the Electronic Desktop Project (EDP). EDP does not update or maintain any of the material of this project, and does not vouch for validity or correctness. Furthermore, the student developing this project was instructed about the rules of copyrights. EDP can in no way be responsible for the inclusion of copyrighted material within this project.

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What is Asthma?

Asthma is a chronic disease of the respiratory system. All patients with Asthma have one thing in common and that is they all have trouble breathing. However, there are widely varying degrees of severity of the causes and symptoms of Asthma. Please click here to see the statistics of people who have asthma.

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What are the causes of Asthma?

Asthma occurs when there is an obstruction of the bronchial airways. The airways that supply our lungs with oxygen gets narrowed, inflammed and sensitive to environmental changes. Muscus gets clogged in the airways and airway swelling contributes to disenable a person to breathe normally. Click here to understand more about the problems of the lungs.

Click here to hear how a person suffering from an asthma attack sounds like under the stethoscope.

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Pain in their chest

Very heavy noisy breathing

Coughing, wheezing

Difficulty catching their breath

Trapped air in the lungs

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There are many different situations or habits which triggers an asthma attack. Below are some common triggers. For more information, click here.

Allergies (eg. pollen, animals, house dust mites, etc...)

Changes in the weather from mild to cold

Infections (eg.colds)

Car exhaust fumes

Cigarette smoke

Exercise

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As of today, there is no cure for asthma; however, asthma could be controlled with proper treatment. People with asthma could be relieved by taking asthma medications that are prescribed by the doctor. Usually the prescribed medications consist of drugs which could be inhaled. The purpose of inhaler medications is that it allows the minimum possible dose of the drug to be used because it will be drawn directly into the airways.

Also, people who suffers from asthma thru allergies can educate themselves on how to identify and avoid things which triggers an asthma attack. Through these treatment strategies, asthma could be managed and avoided.

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B I B L I O G R A P H Y

On-Line Public Access Catalog (Login asLibrary)

CARL(Identify your terminal)

References

List of other books to read

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A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

The images, movies, and sounds are in courtesy of Asthma Tutorial Home Page

Heading Image is in courtesy of Asthma & Lung Specialists

The following has been added by the Electronic Desktop Project:

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