-=> Quoting Jerry Schwartz to All <=-
 JS> I recently posted some comments about urban asthma possibly arising
 JS> from exposure to cockroaches.  Off-topic though it may be, I feel
 JS> responsible for posting a fresh update. 
 JS> A recent study of asthma in rural Scotland suggests that something
 JS> else is at work.  Even on the Isle of Skye, which is pretty well
 JS> pollution free (and probably cockroach free as well, although this
 JS> wasn't specifically mentioned), asthma rates have increased
 JS> dramatically.  The latest suspicion, and this is ONLY A SPECULATION,
 JS> is that since there is a correlation with the number of times a family
 JS> moves it might be exposure to different environments that somehow
 JS> creates a susceptibility to asthma. 
 JS> Meanwhile, another study suggests that childhood diseases protect
 JS> against asthma: asthma rates seem to go up as vaccination becomes more
 JS> common.  In particular, use of a tuberculosis vaccine in Japan
 JS> correlates with an increase in asthma there.  Again, there is only a
 JS> SPECULATION that exposure to tuberculosis alters the responses of the
 JS> immune system. 
 JS> The one thing that comes through loud and clear is that there is
 JS> probably no one cause and possibly no one mechanism involved. Jerry
 I needed to respond to this as I think there is some truth to it.  I
 moved several times in my life, with/without my children.  I found houses
 with crawl spaces to give alot of breathing type illness.  I also found
 that if you have a damp basement it will do the same.  I now live in a
 house that use to have roaches, it is freshly painted and kept quite clean.
 We have not had many of those illness at all.  Of course, we have only
 lived here three months, but the winter is my downfall.  I usally will
 get respitory problems all winter and early spring.  So far things were
 not too bad.
 Now to put this all on topic.  An ADHD child with these types of illness
 are the worst.  So I guess if your child has these types of illness it
 would be worth a test or so if something of these natures exist.
 Regina
... "What?!? This isn't the Files section?!?"
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