Postviral wheezing in childhood: disregulation of airway tone?

哮喘是一种非常常见的儿童疾病，正变得越来越常见。喘息在病毒感染后的婴幼儿中很常见，通常被认为是哮喘的首发症状。然而，许多患有病毒感染而喘息的儿童和婴儿似乎在十几岁时就已经不再哮喘了。持续到成年的哮喘通常与对常见环境过敏原的过敏有关，如屋尘螨和草花粉。然而，许多因病毒感染而喘息的婴儿，特别是在出生后一年的婴儿，在以后的生活中不会出现过敏反应，这增加了他们与症状持续存在的人患上的哮喘类型不同的可能性。该项目将研究病毒感染对肺功能的影响，以确定特定类型的病毒是否会对肺功能产生持续多年的有害影响。我们还将检查感染发生的年龄和感染的严重程度是否会影响长期结果。该项目包括研究呼吸道病毒感染恢复期的婴儿、记录感染数年后年龄较大的儿童，以及在受控条件下感染的实验动物模型。通过确定呼吸道病毒感染是否会对模拟哮喘的肺功能产生长期影响，我们将进一步了解哮喘是如何发展的。此外，可以制定具体的治疗和预防策略，以防止这些长期异常，而不是像目前的做法那样依赖哮喘药物(特别是吸入性皮质类固醇)。预防策略可以包括鼓励开发特定的疫苗。

Asthma is a very common childhood condition that is becoming increasingly more common. Wheezing is common in infants and young children following viral infections and is often thought of as the first manifestation of asthma. However, many children and infants who wheeze with viral infections appear to grow out of asthma in their teenage years. Asthma that persists into adult life is usually associated with allergies to common environmental allergens, such as house dust mite and grass pollens. However, many infants who wheeze with viral infections, especially in the first year of life, do not develop allergies in later life, raising the possibility that they did not have the same type of asthma as those whose symptoms persist. This project will study the effects of viral infections on lung function to determine whether particular types of virus can have detrimental effects of lung function lasting for years. We will also examine whether the age at which the infection occurs and the severity of the infection influence the long-term outcome. The project involves studying infants during the recovery phase of respiratory viral infections, older children years after documented infections and experimental animal models that have been infected under controlled conditions. By determining whether respiratory viral infections can have long-term effects on lung function that can mimic asthma, we will advance our understanding of how asthma develops. In addition, specific treatment and preventative strategies could then be developed to prevent these long-term abnormalities, instead of relying on asthma medication (especially inhaled corticosteroids) as is the current practice. Preventative strategies could include encouraging the development of specific vaccines.