Infections in Children with Asthma

Abstract

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article type: Review Article Asthma is a common chronic inflammatory and complex disease in children with many contributing (including genetic and environmental) factors. This study aims to review the impact of infections in children with asthma. Different websites including Googlescholar, Yahoo, Pubmed, SID.IR, MAGIRAN, IRANDOC, IRANMEDEX ,Embase and Hand searching were searched for pertinent articles with keywords asthma, pediatric, infection, virus, bacteria, and fungus. Out of the results, full articles relevant to pediatric asthma were selected. Acute respiratory infections caused by Chlamydia pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae are involved in 5%-30% of wheezing events and asthma attacks. Viral infections were previously found in 24%-34% of asthmatic children, but technological advancements have revealed them to be present in 77%-81% of cases, with rhinovirus found in 47%, Respiratory Syncytial Virusin 21%, and the rest (including influenza, parainfluenza, adenovirus, coronavirus, and enterovirus) accounting for 2%-5% each. Viral respiratory infections are basically the major trigger for asthma symptoms and attacks in children. No causal relationship has been established between asthma and viruses and bacteria.