Measured by lost work days or reduced performance, the cost of asthma in the U.S. is estimated at nearly six billion dollars per year. Researchers may be on to something that could help turn that around. It's thought that up to 80 per cent of asthma cases are linked to viruses in the throat and upper airways. These rhinoviruses change the behavior of certain cells, resulting in inflammation of the breathing passages. In this way both asthma and even the common cold grow worse.
Steroids can help reduce inflammation but do nothing to fight the virus itself.
Dr. Scherer Sanders is among the Johns Hopkins researchers pursuing the discovery. It's a very exciting observation, that we feel could potentially be used not only for the application of the common cold, but also for viral exacerbations of asthma. 11 Much work remains, but researchers envision a day when the nitric oxide is applied as a nasal spray that both treats and prevents colds and attacks of asthma. At the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, I'm Tom Haederle reporting. The Johns Hopkins University.