Asthma and the inner city: East St. Louis children struggle with life-threatening disease

Asthma and the inner city: East St. Louis children struggle with life-threatening disease
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/pollution-poverty-people-of-color-asthma-and-the-inner-city

"The 4-year-olds laughed as they ran out on the playground at the start of morning recess. Within minutes, one boy stopped, a terrified look on his face. Brenda Crisp and her staff immediately realized what was happening: Asthma attack. "He escalated from zero symptoms to a severe attack in no time at all," Crisp said. "It came out of the clear blue." An ambulance rushed the boy to the hospital, where he recovered for two days. Two years later, he still suffers asthma attacks and must take his nebulizer, which delivers a dose of corticosteroids and oxygen, wherever he goes. This wasn't the first – or the last – near-deadly attack Crisp and her staff have witnessed at the East St. Louis daycare center. When it comes to asthma, the children of their community are at high risk. Nearly all are African American and most live in poverty. Industrial plants ring their city, and exhaust from highways blankets the area. Seven million American children – nearly one out of every ten – have asthma, and the rate has climbed to epidemic proportions. For black children, it's even worse – one out of every six – and the reported rate rose 50 percent between 2001 and 2010. What is it about this city, and other poor, African American cities, that leaves children with a disproportionate burden of respiratory disease? Is it the factories? The traffic exhaust? The substandard housing? Medical experts have struggled to unravel the mysterious connections between inner-city life and asthma, and they suspect they know the answer: All of the above. Day 8 of Pollution, Poverty, People of Color."