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New study assesses asthmas and respiratory viruses

Wednesday 10th September 2014
New study assesses asthmas and respiratory viruses
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The summer is now a distant memory in the UK despite September bringing some unexpected sunshine.

Many people will be sad to see the warmer months go but for asthma sufferers the cooler weather can be a welcome relief. The summer brings out high levels of pollen raising the risk of hay fever, and in some cases this seasonal condition can trigger asthma. It is not uncommon for people with asthma to have a harder time coping with respiratory viruses such as flu and the common cold but researchers have been yet to determine why.

Now new research has looked into the differences between asthma and non-asthma sufferers to determine how they respond to viruses in the lungs. A team of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis conducted a study, published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, which suggested that a fundamental antiviral defense mechanism is intact in asthma sufferers.

The researchers looked at whether the level of interferon production could be the reason behind the differing reactions. However, their studies found no significant differences between the participants with asthma and those without. The researchers recruited 11 patients with mild to severe asthma and seven control participants without asthma to conduct their study.

Led by senior author Michael J. Holtzman, the Selma and Herman Seldin Professor of Medicine, the researchers compared the genes activated by interferon in both groups of patients to determine whether there was any discernible difference.

Even the elaborate analysis they conducted on what was a fairly small study size was not able to show any distinct alterations between either set of participants.

Dr Holtzman said: "Whatever is causing asthmatics and non-asthmatics to experience differences in how well they recover from these respiratory infections — why patients with asthma are more likely to end up in the hospital, for example — this interferon mechanism is not the deciding factor based on what we've seen so far."

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Written by Megan SmithADNFCR-1780-ID-801747757-ADNFCR

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