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Asthma

Background

Asthma is a complex condition that can start at any time of life. It is a condition that affects the airways - the small tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs. Children with asthma have airways that are almost always red and inflamed. These sensitive airways react badly when they have a cold or other viral infection, or when they come into contact with an asthma trigger. A trigger is anything that irritates the airways and causes the symptoms of asthma to appear.

What are the symptoms? View What are the symptoms?

Medical text written December 2001 by Asthma UK (formerly National Asthma Campaign). Approved December 2001 by Professor Martyn Partridge. Last updated February 2005 by Asthma UK. Approved February 2005 by Professor Martyn Partridge, MD, FRCP, Chief Medical Adviser, Asthma UK, London, UK.

 

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