Asthma-The National Surveillance Data and the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program's Expert Panel Report...

"The disease often begins in childhood and sometimes lasts until old age. It may follow an attack of whooping cough. One of the most striking peculiarities is the bizarre and extraordinary variety of circumstances, which at times induce a paroxysm. Among these local conditions, climate or atmosphere is most important." -William Osler, MD (1905) Asthma was familiar to various Greek and Roman authors; however, the attacks of severe wheezing were confused with dyspnea from other causes.1 By the 1900s many of the key attributes of the disease state were well described, such as spasm of the bronchial muscles, swelling of the bronchial mucous membrane, and the role of inflammation. The disease was recognized to run in families, and to be influenced by provocative stimuli such as odors, flowers, hay, and emanations from animals.2 Today, asthma continues to be recognized as a chronic inflammatory disease of the lungs, which typically presents with intermittent cough, wheezing, shortness of breath or dyspnea, and chest tightness, commonly occurring during the night and early morning. The underlying inflammation leads to airway hyperresponsiveness and obstruction with some degree of reversibility. This inflammatory reaction may result in sudden exacerbations and chronic progressive structural changes within the lung.