World Asthma Day 2015: Coimbatore Medical College Organizes Awareness Program

On World Asthma Day (May 5), Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH), Tamil Nadu, India, organized an awareness program on effective control of Asthma.

The authorities decided to install an �oxygenator' in the hospital to handle the increasing number of asthmatic children. The CMCH Pediatric department gets 10-15 asthmatic children per week.

Dr. Keerthi Vasan of the Department of Thoracic Medicine said diagnosing pediatric asthma is very difficult because children under 5 years are prone to viral infections, which mimic asthma.

"If a child has persistent cough for more than 10 days and if there are three or more such episodes, chances of the child being asthmatic are high. The role of parents is important in helping doctors understand the clinical history of the children," Dr. Vasan said.

The doctors also observed that asthma-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) overlap syndrome is a newly-identified problem found among asthma patients who are smokers. If asthma patients smoke regularly and do not follow the treatment regimen, they can develop problems caused by both asthma and COPD. These patients are more likely to develop problems which cannot be controlled.



Source: Medindia