If your child has a recurrent dry cough this winter, don't dismiss it as a lingering cold, Dr. Teague warns. In fact, about 20 percent of children with asthma have cough-equivalent asthma that manifests as cough alone and not with wheezing.
Pediatricians often can determine if youngsters have asthma by a history of symptoms.
We now have improved steroids that target the inflammatory mechanisms but do not have systemic side effects, and we are studying better rescue medicines that do not cause as much jitteriness. There is also a drug in development that decreases circulating eosinophils, the key effector cells involved in asthmatic and allergic reactions, for a period of one month after it is taken. Copyright Emory University, 1999. All Rights Reserved.