Health

Asthma could put you at greater risk for the flu this season

Asthma attacks have gone down since 2001, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Children and caregivers are reporting fewer asthma attacks, fewer missed school days and fewer hospitalizations," says acting director of the CDC, Dr Anne Schuchat.

Although attacks are down, still more than half of all children with asthma had one or more attacks on 2016. There are concerns about people with asthma in this current Flu season that has already seen more than fifty pediatric flu relate deaths.

Flu can be very hard on people with asthma. In fact Schuchat says , "of the children who have been hospitalized for influenza so far this season, asthma has been the most common medial condition that we have seen."

Influenza infection in the lungs can trigger asthma attacks and a worsening of asthma symptoms. It also can lead to pneumonia and other acute respiratory diseases. In fact, adults and children with asthma are more likely to develop pneumonia after getting sick with the flu than people who do not have asthma.

"We recommend everybody with asthma get a flu shot every single year,"says Schuchat.

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