About Asthma

Asthma is a serious, sometimes life-threatening respiratory disease that affects the quality of life for millions of Americans. Although there is no cure for asthma yet, asthma can be controlled through medical treatment and management of environmental triggers. EPA is committed to educating all Americans about asthma so that everyone knows what asthma is, how the environment can affect asthma patients and how to manage environmental asthma triggers.


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Asthma Facts

• Asthma leads to 2 million emergency room visits and 5,000 deaths per year in the U.S.
• Asthma accounted for more than 14 million missed school days in 2000.
• Asthma costs (health care costs and lost productivity) totaled $14 billion in 2002.

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What are Indoor Environmental Asthma Triggers?

Americans spend up to 90% of their time indoors. Indoor exposure to asthma triggers plays an important role in asthma in the U.S. By knowing what the common indoor triggers are and how to control them, we can reduce the effects of asthma!

Asthma triggers commonly found indoors include:

• Secondhand (cigarette) Smoke
• Cockroaches and Other Pests
• Dust Mites & House Dust
• Molds
• Pets and Other Animals
• Nitrogen Dioxide

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What is Secondhand Smoke?

Secondhand smoke, also known as Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS), consists of exhaled smoke from smokers and side stream smoke from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar or pipe. Secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 substances, including over 40 compounds that are known carcinogens.

How Does Second Hand Smoke affect Asthma?

Secondhand smoke can trigger asthma episodes and increase the severity of attacks. Secondhand smoke is also a risk factor for new cases of asthma in preschool aged children who have not already exhibited asthma symptoms. Scientists believe that secondhand smoke irritates the chronically inflamed bronchial passages of people with asthma. Secondhand smoke is linked to other health problems, including lung cancer, ear infections and other chronic respiratory illnesses, such as bronchitis and pneumonia.

Many of the health effects of secondhand smoke, including asthma, are most clearly seen in children because children are most vulnerable to its effects. Most likely, children's developing bodies make them more susceptible to secondhand smoke's effects and, due to their small size, they breathe more rapidly than adults thereby taking in more secondhand smoke. Children receiving high doses of secondhand smoke, such as those with smoking mothers, run the greatest relative risk of experiencing damaging health effects.

Actions You Can Take

• Choose not to smoke in your home or car and don't allow others to do so.
• Choose not to smoke in the presence of people with asthma.
• Choose not to smoke in the presence of children, who are particularly susceptible to the harmful effects of secondhand smoke.
• Do not allow baby-sitters, caregivers or others who work in your home to smoke in your house or near your children.
• Take the Smoke-free Home Pledge and encourage others to do so.
• Talk to your children's teachers and day care providers about keeping the places your children spend time smoke-free.

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What are Dust Mites?

Dust mites are tiny insects that are invisible to the naked eye. Every home has dust mites. They feed on human skin flakes and are found in mattresses, pillows, carpets, upholstered furniture, bedcovers, clothes, stuffed toys and fabric and fabric-covered items. Body parts and feces from dust mites can trigger asthma in individuals with allergic reactions to dust mites, and exposure to dust mites can cause asthma in children who have not previously exhibited asthma symptoms.

Actions You Can Take

• Cover mattresses and pillows with dust proof ("allergen-impermeable") zippered covers.
• Wash bedding (sheets, blankets, and bedcovers) once per week in hot water.
• Choose washable stuffed toys, wash them often in hot water, and dry them thoroughly.
• Keep stuffed toys off beds.
• Maintain low indoor humidity, ideally between 30-50% relative humidity. Humidity levels can be measured by hygrometers which are available at local hardware stores.

Common house dust may contain asthma triggers. When you are treating your house for dust mites, try these simple steps as well.

• Remove dust often with a damp cloth.
• Vacuum carpet and fabric-covered furniture to reduce dust build-up.
• Using vacuums with high efficiency filters or central vacuums may be helpful.
• People with asthma or allergies should leave the area being vacuumed.

http://www.epa.gov/asthma/dustmites.html

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About Pets and Asthma

Your pet's dead skin flakes, urine, feces, saliva and hair can trigger asthma. Dogs, cats, rodents (including hamsters and guinea pigs) and other mammals can trigger asthma in individuals with an allergic reaction to animal dander. Proteins in the dander, urine or saliva of warm-blooded animals (e.g., cats, dogs, mice, rats, gerbils, birds, etc.) have been reported to sensitize individuals and cause allergic reactions or trigger asthma episodes in individuals sensitive to animal allergens.

The most effective method to control animal allergens in the home is to not allow animals in the home. If you remove an animal from the home, it is important to clean the home (including floors and walls, but especially carpets and upholstered furniture) thoroughly.
Pet allergen levels are reported to stay in the home for several months after the pet is removed even with cleaning. Isolation methods to reduce animal allergen in the home have also been suggested by reputable health authorities (e.g., keeping the animal in only one area of the home, keeping the animal outside or ensuring that people with allergies or asthma stay away from the animal) but the effectiveness of these methods has not been determined. Several reports in the literature indicate that animal allergen is carried in the air and by residents of the home on their clothing to all parts of the home, even when the animal is isolated. In fact, animal allergen is often detected in locations where no animals were housed.

Often, people sensitive to animal allergens are advised to wash their pets regularly. Recent research indicates that washing pets may only provide temporary reductions in allergen levels. There is no evidence that this short term reduction is effective in reducing symptoms and it has been suggested that during the washing of the animal the sensitive individual may be initially exposed to higher levels of allergens.

Thus, the most effective method to control exposure to animal allergens is to keep your home pet free. However, some individuals may find isolation measures to be sufficiently effective. Isolation measures that have been suggested include keeping pets out of the sleeping areas, keeping pets away from upholstered furniture, carpets, and stuffed toys, keeping the pet outdoors as much as possible and isolating sensitive individuals from the pet as much as possible.

Actions You Can Take

• If pets are one of your asthma triggers, strongly consider finding a new home for your pets.
• Keep pets out of the bedroom and other sleeping areas at all times and keep the door closed.
• Keep pets away from fabric-covered furniture, carpets and stuffed toys.
• Vacuum carpets, rugs, and furniture two or more times per week.

http://www.epa.gov/asthma/pets.html

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