Pneumocystis jirovecii infection.
Pneumocystis jirovecii infection.
复制标题
耶氏肺孢子虫感染。
作者：
Miller,R;Huang,L
我们知道些什么？在许多儿童中，哮喘与过敏密切相关，许多哮喘儿童对尘螨和宠物过敏原过敏。对他们来说，减少风险敞口可能是有益的。但这是否意味着接触粉尘和宠物会导致哮喘呢？这个问题令人惊讶地复杂。虽然研究表明，接触特定的过敏原会增加对这些过敏原的敏感度，但这并不一定意味着这种接触也会增加哮喘的发病率。1、2一些研究甚至表明，早年接触宠物(和其他动物)可能会降低哮喘的发生率。3-7与暴露在过敏原和其他生物污染物中的复杂作用相比，关于氮氧化物、硫氧化物、燃烧设备产生的颗粒物、环境烟草烟雾和挥发性有机化合物(VOCs)等化学物质的证据甚至不太清楚。在本期Thorax杂志中，来自澳大利亚的两项新研究试图分别为无通风供暖设备和VOCs的作用提供进一步的证据。Phoa等人回顾收集了8-11岁儿童样本中无通风口加热器暴露的数据。早期--但不是目前--暴露于未通风的空间加热器被发现与呼吸道高反应性和喘息有关。Rumchev等人在幼儿中进行了一项病例对照研究，发现6-36个月大的被诊断为哮喘的医院急诊科出院的儿童，其家中的VOCs浓度高于居住在同一社区的对照儿童。
WHAT DO WE KNOW? In many children asthma is closely associated with allergy, and many asthmatic children are allergic to dust mite and pet allergens. For them, reduction of exposure is likely to be beneficial. But does this mean that mite and pet exposure causes asthma? This issue is surprisingly complex. Whereas studies suggest that exposure to specific allergens increases sensitisation to those allergens, this does not necessarily mean that such exposures also increase the incidence of asthma. 1 2 Some studies even suggest that early life exposure to pets (and other animals) may reduce the incidence of asthma. 3–7 Compared with the already complex role of exposure to allergens and other biological contaminants, the evidence with respect to chemicals such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and particles produced by combustion appliances, environmental tobacco smoke, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is even less clear.In this issue of Thorax two new studies from Australia attempt to provide further evidence for the role of unvented heating appliances and of VOCs, respectively. Phoa et al8 retrospectively collected data on unvented heater exposure in a sample of children aged 8–11 years. Early—but not current—exposure to unvented space heaters was found to be associated with airway hyperresponsiveness and wheeze. Rumchev et al9 conducted a case-control study in young children and found that children aged 6–36 months, discharged from a hospital emergency department with a diagnosis of asthma, had higher concentrations of VOCs in their homes than control children living in the same community.