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One in fifteen children today suffers from asthma. In Control Your Child's Asthma , Dr. Harold Farber, a board-certified pediatric pulmonologist, and science writer Michael Boyette state that the prevalence of this disease has increased by over 70 percent in children under the age of fourteen over the past fourteen years.
Thus, even as we gain a greater understanding of the “asthma cycle” - the onset and progression of an attack and its successful control - we remain perplexed by the sheer number of cases of children who are affected by this disease. While some of this meteoric increase may simply be attributed to better and early detection, it is clear that much of this increase is real.
What is strange is that asthma is virtually unknown in rural China and sub-Saharan Africa but common in the modern Western world. Paradoxically, environments with greater levels of animal dander, dust, smoke, and other pollutants appear to be associated with lower incidence of asthma in children.
Dr. Farber runs through a list of possible causes for this epidemic of asthma in the Western world: the abundance of chemicals in our environment, efficient sealing of homes leading to elevated levels of indoor air pollutants, and the underdevelopment of the immune system due to inadequate exposure to bacteria and viruses in an over-clean environment. He also goes into the pros and cons of the available medication on the market and helps you choose the right medication for your child.
The ultimate goal of this book is to empower the parents of children with asthma so that they understand the treatment options and feel better prepared to partner with their physicians in developing and following a well-devised health plan for their children. Dr. Farber helps readers gain the necessary tools to create a successful, patient-oriented asthma action plan with their physicians. Highly recommended!
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Control Your Child's Asthma: A Breakthrough Program for the Treatment and Management of Childhood Asthma
