Can Asthma Disease Be Detected Since Baby?
Wheezing (breathing sounds like a tinkle), shortness of breath, and cough, is one of the symptoms of asthma that occurs in adults. However, if infants under one year of age experience these symptoms, what can be said symptoms of asthma in infants? When can a baby actually get a diagnosis of asthma? Find out the answer below.
What is asthma?
Asthma is a chronic disease caused by inflammation in the respiratory tract. This inflammation makes the respiratory tract swollen and very sensitive. As a result, the respiratory tract narrows, causing a lack of air flowing into the lungs.
According to WHO, asthma is a common disease among children. However, experts also do not know the exact cause. Asthma can affect people of all ages, but most often begins in childhood. Risk factors include:
- Have a respiratory infection (highest risk)
- Have allergies, eczema (allergic conditions on the skin)
- Parents or grandparents have asthma (have offspring)
- Among children, boys tend to have asthma more often than girls. However, among adults, women are more commonly affected by this disease than men.
Can asthma occur in infants?
Generally, doctors have not been able to diagnose or detect asthma in infants. Why is that? This is because in infants aged two years or under, the symptoms of asthma that may appear are still very similar to other respiratory diseases symptoms.
As many as 30 percents of infants aged under 3 years, at least experienced one to two times wheezing symptoms. The symptoms of wheezing in these infants are commonly often diagnosed as bronchiolitis. Bronchiolitis is a common lung infection. This condition causes inflammation and blockage in the small airways (bronchioles) in the lungs. Bronchiolitis is almost always caused by a virus.
Bronchiolitis begins with symptoms that resemble a cold, but then increases to a cough, breath sounds, and sometimes difficulty breathing. Symptoms of bronchiolitis in infants can last for several days to several weeks, even up to a month. Here are the symptoms of bronchiolitis in infants that you must know:
- Nose runny
- Nasal congestion
- A cough
- A mild fever (not always the case)
- Difficulty breathing
- Whistling sound
- Ear infections (otitis media) in many infants
What causes bronchiolitis in infants?
Bronchiolitis usually occurs when the virus infects the bronchioles, the smallest airways in the lungs. Infection causes the bronchioles to become swollen and inflamed. Mucus accumulates in the airways, causing difficult air to flow freely in the lungs.
Most cases of bronchiolitis are caused by a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). RSV is a common virus that infects almost every 2-year-old child. Outbreaks of RSV infections occur every winter. Bronchiolitis can also be caused by other viruses, including viruses that cause flu or colds. Infants can be re-infected with RSV because there are 2 derivatives of the virus.
There are several things that can trigger the development of asthma in infants
- You or your partner smoke. This can make the baby at risk 4 times more asthma, compared with infants free from air cigarette smoke in his home.
- Baby's mother smokes while pregnant
- Your baby is born with premature birth or low birth weight
- One or both parents of your baby have asthma, or other allergic conditions, such as eczema.
- Infants have allergic conditions such as eczema, or food allergies.
- The baby lives in a house that has a damp or fungal problem.
It takes a doctor's examination to diagnose asthma
You need the help of a doctor to diagnose asthma because it is still difficult to detect if your baby is under the age of 2 years. Doctors will help provide a diagnosis of asthma by identifying the symptoms caused later also the doctor will consider family medical history whether anyone has asthma or not.
