Winter viruses may cause asthma in children
21 November 2008

Exposure to winter viruses in early infancy is associated with an increased risk of asthma in childhood, according to research published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Dr Tina Hartert, from Tennessee, USA, and her team studied medical information on more than 95,000 infants born between 1995 and 2000 who were then followed until the end of 2005.
 
They found a significant association between a child’s risk of asthma and the timing of their birth, relative to that year’s peak of hospital admissions due to bronchiolitis – a chest infection generally caused by the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).

Children born four months before the winter peak of virus infections had the highest risk of asthma compared with children who were either older or younger when the virus peak occurred.

Dr Hartet concluded: ‘Timing of birth in relationship to winter virus season confers a differential and definable risk of developing early childhood asthma, establishing winter virus seasonality as a causal factor in asthma development.’
 
Dr Elaine Vickers, Research Relations Manager at Asthma UK, said: ‘RSV is all around us during the winter months, and almost all infants in the UK will experience at least one RSV infection during childhood.

‘Currently there is no way of avoiding RSV infections. However, vaccines are being developed, and if they prove to be sufficiently safe, effective and easy to use, they may one day have a role to play in the prevention of asthma.

‘At the moment, the only proven ways to reduce your child’s risk of asthma are not to smoke during pregnancy, and not to smoke around children.’