valent inside houses and apartments. That lack of physical conditioning along with a 1997 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine which found that 40% of asthmatic children are very allergic to cockroach feces is another clue why asthma incidents are so widespread in inner-cities. The only aspect of our environment, technology and society that seems to be unaffected by this disease and turns a blind-eye to asthma is our political leaders. Even though the Clinton administration has made asthma research funding a top priority, most scientists agree that there should be more money ear-marked towards comprehensive long-term studies such as those that discovered the risk factors behind heart disease and lung-cancer. Our leaders and future leaders need to take heed, though. Between 1980 and 1994 the prevalence of asthma among U.S. children five to 14 has almost doubled. Even more frightening is that in the past twenty years, when medical technology has grown at an unprecedented rate, asthma deaths have more than tripled. Education-minded leaders need to be aware that asthma is now the most common chronic illness among children, and as of this year it has become the leading cause of school absences.Although the etiology of asthma is complex and poorly understood, the progression of symptoms is better understood. Bronchial asthma is an allergic reaction in the bronchi and bronchioles of the lungs. An allergic reaction like the kind found in asthma occurs when the body's specialized germ fighters, white blood cells called lymphocytes, react over-aggressively to a harmless, or moderately harmless allergen-a foreign substance. Spasmogens, and vasoactive substances such as histamines, leukotrienes, and prostaglandins are released locally causing an inflammation of the lung-tissue, which decreases the circumference of the bronchioles through spasmodic smooth muscle contraction, and also releases mucus, which can further rest...
