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About
28 million Americans are expected to have asthma in 2020. One in every eight children has asthma now, and twelve
people die from asthma daily according to The Centers for Disease
Control, the American Lung Association, and U.S. Surgeon General
Dr. Richard Carmona.
The Surgeon General says that too many people fail to keep their
asthma under control, then turn to hospitals when they suffer an
attack, with 5,000 ER visits recorded each day.
As the climate
gets warmer, allergens such as pollen and mold will flood the
air, interacting with urban pollutants such as ozone and soot
to fuel an already growing epidemic of asthma. In a recently
released study, Lancaster, Pennsylvania’s air was named
5th worst in the nation among mid-size cities for harmful soot.
Other areas named in central Pennsylvania were York-Hanover,
Reading and Harrisburg-Carlisle.
“It is affecting the trees, the molds, the subsurface organisms,” Dr.
Paul Epstein of Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health
and the Global Environment, told a news conference.
Children
under five years of age have been the hardest hit. But one
out of every six U.S. high school students suffers from asthma and more than one-third of those reports having an attack in the
previous year, according to a study conducted by the Centers for
Disease Control.
Research shows that carpet removal, frequent cleaning with a special
fine-particle filter vacuum cleaner, use of bedding covers that
prevent dust mite buildup, and elimination of tobacco smoke are
some of the many actions that can be taken to relieve asthma symptoms.
Despite this knowledge, there is little evidence that these treatment
strategies are being implemented in many, if not most, homes.
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