What is ASTHMA & what causes it? What have governments done to reduce air pollution?

Asthma is a disease of the respiratory system in which the airways constrict, become inflamed, and are lined with excessive amounts of mucus, often in response to one or more "triggers," such as exposure to an environmental stimulant (or allergen), cold air, exercise, or emotional stress. In children, the most common triggers are viral illnesses such as those that cause the common cold. This airway narrowing causes symptoms such as wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing, which respond to bronchodilators. Between episodes, most patients feel fine.

The disorder is a chronic or recurring inflammatory condition in which the airways develop increased responsiveness to various stimuli, characterized by bronchial hyper-responsiveness, inflammation, increased mucus production, and intermittent airway obstruction. The symptoms of asthma, which can range from mild to life threatening, can usually be controlled with a combination of drugs and enviromental changes.

Public attention in the developed world has recently focused on asthma because of its rapidly increasing prevalence, affecting up to one in four urban children. Susceptibility to asthma can be explained in part by genetic factors, but no clear pattern of inheritance has been found. Asthma is a complex disease that is influenced by multiple genetic, developmental, and environmental factors, which interact to produce the overall condition.

Common Causes
In both extrinsic and intrinsic asthma, the attack is the result of muscular constriction of the air passageways branching through the lungs (bronchi) and swelling of the wet inner lining (mucosa)-much like nasal congestion.

Some possible triggers of asthma attacks are listed below.

Viral respiratory infections
Environmental allergens, both indoor (for example, mold, dust mites, cockroaches, animal dander or secretions) and outdoor (for example, pollen and dust)
Exercise
Occupational chemicals or allergens
Environmental change (for example, moving to a new home, going on vacation, and/or alterations in the workplace, work processes, or materials used)
Irritants (for example, tobacco smoke, strong odors, air pollutants, occupational chemicals, dust and particulates, vapors, gases, and aerosols)
Emotions (for example, fear, anger, frustration, hard crying or laughing)
Medications (for example, aspirin, beta-blockers (including eye drops), and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)
Food, food additives, and preservatives (for example, sulfites)
Changes in weather or exposure to cold air
Endocrine factors (for example, hormone changes related to menses, pregnancy, and thyroid disease)
Asthma is not caused by psychological factors, although strong emotional states may trigger an attack.

Asthma tends to diminish in severity with age unless it is acquired from occupational exposure or from infection. Individuals with severe childhood asthma may "outgrow" it by the time they reach their twenties.

The governmentss in different countries are takeing steps to controll astma but it is not adequet in several counties. Most of the places now-a-days spending more time and money on other cronic and fatel diseases like, cancer, AIDS etc. It should improve.

Asthma can have multiple causes, but in my case it is only caused by inflammation of body during exercise (when arthritis or other related condition is flared up), stress, physical illness, sudden cold air with things I'm allergic to in it, sudden breath of wood smoke or other chemicals I am allergic to. The last one causes me to need epinephrine very soon or sometimes immediately in addition to a breathing treatment.

Polluted air makes all well people sicker, and people with weaker immune systems can get really suddenly sick and die if they are not in a clean place and treated immediately.

i don't really know what asthma is but it is sometimes caused by you being around cigarette smoke when you were a baby.and i don't really know the answer to the second question sorry.

asthma cuts down the air flow in the lungs.this makes it hard to breathe and can cause chest tightness and wheezing.asthma is a phyical problem not a emotional one.although stress,anxiety,or frustration can cause asthma to worsen,and it can be severe enough to disrupt people,s lives.its a complex disorder which needs to be treated by a doctor who can monitor the person,s asthma over time. i dont know if government is doing anything at all about air pollution

Asthma is due to hypersensitivity to allergens, foreign particles and other stimuli. When exposed to such, bronchioles (lower airways) constrict and swell, making the passage of air (ventilation) difficult.

There are two kinds of asthma that I heard of
1. Juvenile Onset - more likely to disappear during adulthood
2. Adult Onset - prognosis is less favorable