Fatal asthma: Learning from tragedies

Lessons learned from compounding tragedies.

Several months have passed since news broke of a horrific compounding tragedy at the New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Framingham, Massachusetts. An outbreak of fungal meningitis in fall 2012 was traced to contaminated methylprednisolone acetate prepared by the NECC. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of May 11, 2013, 55 deaths and a total case count...

Near-fatal asthma.

The prevalence of patients with acute severe asthma appears to be increasing in many countries. In the present review, we summarize data in the literature relating to the prevention and treatment of fatality-prone asthmatics. The underlying assumption is that increased understanding of near-fatal asthma will increase our understanding of the pathophysiology of severe asthma, and lead to interve...

Fatal asthma in Singapore.

Potentially fatal asthma.

Potentially fatal asthma (PFA) is a designation used to identify patients with asthma who are at increased risk of a subsequent fatality.’ This diagnosis is dependent on patients presenting to the health care system because the diagnosis is based on major asthma events as listed in Table 1. Some fatalities in Chicago have occurred in patients who have not received medical care and therefore can...

Fatal asthma or anaphylaxis?

The incidence of anaphylaxis is under-reported. Children with asthma are frequently atopic and prone to allergic reactions. Parents and clinicians may attribute wheeze of rapid onset to acute severe asthma, rather than recognising an anaphylactic event. Two cases of fatal anaphylaxis are reported who were initially diagnosed as acute severe asthma, and responded poorly to bronchodilator treatme...