World Asthma Day raises awareness of burden of asthma

Tuesday May 6th is World Asthma Day. This year's theme is the "Burden of Asthma" - on the patient, the family and society as a whole. The Czech Initiative for Asthma is organising various events around the country not only on World Asthma Day but throughout the month of May, focusing not only on asthma but also allergies which are the main risk factor contributing to the development of asthma.

World Asthma Day raises awareness of burden of asthma

"Birch pollen was the main pollen allergen of the last week. It will remain the dominant allergen of the coming week in higher elevations only, in the lowlands the season will fade out. Ash pollen season is almost over. Oak and beech pollen will be quite abundant in the coming days. In the city parks plane trees are ready to start flowering."

...that is the up-to-date pollen alert in the Czech Republic as published on www.polleninfo.org - something that allergic people visiting the country might find useful.

Every eighth person in the Czech Republic has hay fever and one quarter of the population is allergic to something. With the pollen season in full swing I spoke to a leading specialist on allergies and asthma, Professor Vaclav Spicak, who is the head of the Czech Initiative for Asthma.

"Our prevalence of allergic diseases is comparable with other European countries. But when we compare the prevalence in our country in the last years we can see that the number of allergic patients increased from ten percent after the Second World War to twenty-four, twenty-six percent today. We can see, for example, an increase of pollen allergy and asthma."

There are 600,000 asthmatics among the ten million citizens of the Czech Republic and it is estimated that another 200,000 walk around undiagnosed. Every third European carries the genes for allergy. It is thought that environmental conditions are behind the increase in the number of patients but the air quality in our homes also plays a crucial role. Carpets, pets, gas cookers or smoking in the house can trigger or exacerbate allergies and asthma.

"Indoor air-quality is an increasingly important factor and we can see that the lifestyle in the household has changed. There are smokers in fifty percent of Czech households and twenty-nine percent of our young asthmatics are smokers! And also the rate of ventilation in the household has changed as many people replaced their ordinary windows with plastic windows. So for example, mite allergens, from house dust mites play a very important role in the condition our asthmatic patients."

Allergies can occur at any time during life and all we can do is stay away from the risk factors. Doctors say that early diagnosis is vital, as both allergy and asthma can be contained medically and further complications, some of them fatal, can be prevented.

Concerned about pollen allergens in the Czech Republic? Try www.pylovasluzba.cz or www.polleninfo.org.