AIMS To estimate excess morbidity during periods of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity. METHODS Retrospective analysis of a sentinel practice network database in active and non-active virus periods. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES clinical diagnoses of new episodes of influenza-like illness (ILI), acute bronchitis, asthma, and otitis media. RESULTS The clinical diagnosis of IL...

The use of systemic corticosteroids, together with bronchodilators and oxygen therapy, has become established for the management of acute asthma. These agents are undoubtedly effective, but are also associated with problems such as metabolic adverse effects. Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) offer potential benefit in the acute setting because they are delivered directly to the airways. They are al...

BACKGROUND Little attention has been paid to asthma in 'under-fives' in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 'under-fives', acute asthma and pneumonia have similar clinical presentation and most children with acute respiratory symptoms are diagnosed with pneumonia according to the WHO criteria. The mortality associated with acute respiratory diseases in Uganda is high but improving, dropping from 24% in 2004...

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that sustained differences in readmission rate for acute asthma were associated with variations in clinical practice. DESIGN Data were collected by retrospective review of case notes, using the criteria recommended by the British Thoracic Society. SETTING Two city National Health Service (NHS) hospitals that had recorded a sustained difference in readmission...

Background—This study was designed to test the association of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection with asthma in a multiracial population, after adjustments for several potential confounding variables. Methods—Antibodies to C pneumoniae were measured by microimmunofluorescence in 123 patients with acute asthma, 1518 control subjects admitted to the same hospital with various non-cardiovascular, non-...

Introduction: Many admissions for acute asthma are avoidable. Care following admission with acute asthma was audited at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, South Wales, simple changes were introduced, and a re-audit was conducted. Methods: Adult admissions for acute asthma were analysed for an initial 2 month period followed by the introduction of changes in practice, then re-audited for a 5 week per...

The production of platelet-activating factor (PAF) by inflammatory cells is regulated by lyso-PAF acetyltransferase, and the activity of this enzyme is increased in neutrophils of stable asthmatic patients. The aim of this investigation was to determine whether acetyltransferase activity is further upregulated in asthmatic patients experiencing acute symptoms. A radioenzymatic assay was used to...

To assess the relationship between passive smoking and asthma, we investigated (1) whether passive smoking was more prevalent among asthmatic than control children and (2) whether exposure to tobacco smoke was higher in acute asthma than in nonacute asthma. Three groups were recruited into a case-control study: 72 acute asthmatic children from the emergency room (ER), 35 nonacute asthmatic chil...

The relationship between asthma and passive smoking has been well established. However, it is still not clear whether an acute asthma attack can be induced by acute smoke exposure. The specific aims of this study were: 1- To assess the degree of smoke exposure through urinary cotinine levels in asthmatic children during and 4 weeks after asthma attacks and, 2- To evaluate the reliability of par...

UNLABELLED Acute viral myocarditis is one of the causes of heart failure. Cardiac asthma is commonly observed in elderly patients with left heart failure. If the pulmonary manifestations are prominent it can mask the involvement of heart. We report a young case of viral myocarditis mimicking acute asthma attack. CASE PRESENTATION A 27-year-old young man with a history of asthma presented to t...