This time of year can be difficult for people who have asthma. Doctors and physicians typically see a spike in asthma attacks and hospitalizations from late September to early October.

Asthma is the third-leading cause of hospitalization among those under the age of 15. The condition causes the airways to constrict and can be life-threatening if not properly managed. If a child with asthma also has allergies, it’s a double whammy. Now, there’s personalized care for patients with these complex cases.

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SAN ANTONIO – Twenty-five million asthmatics in the U.S. can now take a collective sigh of relief after the National Institutes of Health came up with new recommendations to treat the chronic condition. The inhalers are now being recommended to treat asthma attacks. Also, for the first time ever, allergy shots also got a shot in the arm by the NIH experts, who now recommend them for allergy-related asthma. One of the devices, a fractional exhaled nitric oxide test, helps with the proper diagnosis and treatment decisions that a doctor might face. “It’s a little device that you blow into and it measures nitric oxide out of the lungs, and it correlates the elevation of nitric oxide correlates with the type of inflammation that we see in asthma,” Brooks said.

Saharan dust & COVID-19 in San AntonioPublished: June 18, 2020, 6:42 pmWhat to watch out for when the Saharan dust blows into San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO – As more people in San Antonio require breathing treatments due to COVID-19, fears for another medically-fragile condition is emerging. Dr. Margie Tiddall Svatek, a UHS associate professor and hospitalist and the medical director of the Kids Breath Program at the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, has a warning about the possibility of an inhaler shortage. Still, it’s important to the asthma community to be forewarned that there may be a shortage. It’s an ironic twist since the COVID-19 safety orders could, in some cases, cause asthma attacks that the medications are needed for. COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019.