Childhood asthma rates have doubled since 1980.

Asthma is the third-ranking reason for a kid to go to the hospital, reports The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
http://a.abcnews.com/Health/AllergiesNew...

Poor indoor air quality is one of of the top five environmental risks according to the EPA. Children, especially those with asthma or allergies are especially vulnerable.

"Asthma is the number-one chronic reason why children miss school in the U.S.," according to Mike Tringale at the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

FRIDAY, Aug. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Canadian researchers are challenging the widely held belief that flu shots help protect older people from potentially deadly diseases such as pneumonia.

While the researchers say the vaccine does protect against certain strains of influenza, its overall benefit seems to have been exaggerated by so-called observational studies that found a big reduction in "all-cause mortality" among older patients who'd gotten a flu shot.

THURSDAY, Aug. 28 (HealthDay News) -- The metal cadmium plays a major role in causing emphysema, and even low-level exposure through secondhand smoke and other sources can increase the risk of lung disease, a new study says.

The University of Michigan School of Public Health research also suggests that people with high levels of cadmium in their bodies may have as much as double the risk of developing a pulmonary disease such as emphysema or chronic bronchitis.

TUESDAY, Aug. 26 (HealthDay News) -- California's state tobacco program resulted in a 50-to-1 return on investment over 15 years, say researchers from the University of California, San Francisco.

In a study published in the Aug. 25 issue of PLoS Medicine, researchers evaluated the health care savings that occurred as a result of the tobacco control program between 1989, when the program began, and 2004, when the study ended.

They found that the program saved $86 billion -- in 2004 dollars -- while only costing the state $1.8 billion to fund the program.

Have SARS and bird flu been eradicated?

I remember at one time (a few years ago) when it was all that health news reports talked about!

Are we still at risk?

SATURDAY, Aug. 23 (HealthDay News) -- With the start of school here, the American Lung Association is advising parents of children with asthma to follow a simple checklist to ensure this sometimes debilitating disease doesn't hinder their child's academic year.

Almost 11 percent of school-age children have asthma. Annually, these students miss some 13 million days in the classroom because of asthma, making it one of the most common reasons kids are absent from school.

The American Lung Association also urges parents who have children with asthma to:

FRIDAY, Aug. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Suffering respiratory or ear infections in early childhood, having a dog in the house as a newborn, and even being raised in a large family all appear to increase the risk of snoring later in life, new research suggests.

The findings may seem incidental but, the study authors point out, snoring has been linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, not to mention the obvious problems of sleep deprivation for those who snore and those who have to listen.

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 20 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental drug that blocks the genetic flaw responsible for one form of cystic fibrosis has worked well in an early trial, Israeli researchers report.

"The results have been promising," said Dr. Eitan Kerem, head of pediatrics at Hadassah Hebrew University Hospital in Jerusalem, and lead author of a report published online Thursday in the journal The Lancet.

TUESDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- The use of silver-coated endotracheal tubes reduced the risk of pneumonia among intensive-care patients on ventilators, a U.S. study found.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia can lead to longer hospital stays, increased costs, and infection with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Currently, no single prevention strategy eliminates ventilator-associated pneumonia, according to background information in the study.

MONDAY, Aug. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Recently discovered so-called free radicals that are attached to small particles of air pollution could cause lung damage and perhaps even lung cancer, researchers report.

If confirmed through further research, the finding could help to explain why nonsmokers develop tobacco-related diseases like lung cancer, said lead researcher H. Barry Dellinger, the Patrick F. Taylor Chair of environmental chemistry at Louisiana State University.