For reasons not well understood, asthma among children has more than doubled in America over the past 20 years. Asthma afflicts more than 20 million people, but nowhere is it as bad as in Chicago, where the death rate for asthma is more than twice the national rate. In Chicago, 17 children died in 2000–all of them minorities. Blacks are more than three times as likely as whites to die of asthma. The neighborhood of Hughes school–a poor and dangerous stretch known in Chicago as K Town–is perhaps the worst of the worst when it comes to the disease. Principal Julius Anderson sees his students suffer. “It is a scary thing to watch,” he says. “They almost turn blue.”
In finding causes for asthma–a narrowing of breathing tubes–there have been plenty of suspected culprits: cockroaches, dust mites, viruses, obesity, cold apartments, indoor and outdoor pollution. According to one recent theory, Americans have become so urbanized–so unfamiliar with nature and animals–that our resistance to allergens has wilted. But little has been proved. “Asthma has been documented back to early Greek and Roman times,” says Dr. Kevin Weiss, a Northwestern University professor of medicine. “But it remains very much a mystery.” The disparity between blacks and whites is being examined in a new study by the National Institutes of Health. Weiss, one of the leaders of the study in Chicago, says research-ers will examine another possible cause of asthma in inner-city neighborhoods: stress. “The stress of being poor, of facing violence, living with racism.”
What is already known is that asthma is seriously undertreated, especially among the poor. Inhaled steroids can liberate children from breathing problems, but many parents aren’t aware of that, thinking a child needs medicine only when there are symptoms. Or they believe a child can “tough it out” and outgrow asthma. In fact, the medicine gives children a much better chance of a healthy future. In serious cases, children should be using inhalers every day. Dr. Ruby Roy, a physician with the Loyola University mobile unit, says too many asthmatics simply limit their lives. “They think, ‘If the cold triggers asthma, I just won’t go outside. If it’s induced by exercise, then I just won’t run or play’,” says Roy, herself an asthmatic. She tells children they don’t have to give in. “I tell them about famous Olympic athletes and basketball players who have asthma. It didn’t stop them.”
At the Hughes school, second-grade teacher Phyllis Christmas hears rasping in the classroom–the sound of children struggling to breathe. Little Zeron is one of her charges. He was practicing his sentences when it was time for him to go to the van and have his breathing checked. Sitting on the examining table, his legs dangling over the edge, Zeron listened intently as Dr. Ann Collier said she wanted to strike a deal with him. “Here’s my promise to you,” she said. “If you do the puffer every day, you’ll be able to run and keep up with your friends all you want.” His eyes widened. “Really?” he said. The doctor nodded and smiled. The boy just wants to play without gasping. That shouldn’t be too much to ask.
