Asthma

Your Asthma Guide

 Asthma is a disease with symptoms of recurrent tight chest, wheezing or cough, triggered by different stimuli (allergens, cold air, smoke etc.) that respond to asthma pumps or nebulisers. The disease involves two major elements: chronic inflammation of the airways, and episodic tightness in the chest (bronchoconstriction). The airways of asthma sufferers become hyper-responsive and react very easily to these triggers by closing up (bronchoconstriction). Because the underlying airway inflammation causes this hyper-responsiveness, the main focus of asthma prevention is on effective and daily control of the airway inflammation with relief of bronchoconstriction only as needed.

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Professor Keertan Dheda has received of several prestigious awards including the 2014 Oppenheimer Award, and has published over 160 peer-reviewed papers and holds 3 patents related to new TB diagnostic or infection control technologies. He serves on the editorial board of the journals PLoS One, the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Medicine, Lancet Respiratory Diseases and Nature Scientific Reports, amongst others.Read his full biography at the University of Cape Town Lung Institute

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