Home  Asthma Questions and answers about asthma Asthma and infections
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| Do infections cause asthma? | Asthma often starts during childhood. You may remember that your asthma seemed to start in connection with a virus infection. But the infection probably didn’t cause the asthma; more likely it only triggered the symptoms. The condition was already there and would have developed sooner or later, with or without the infection. You were probably born with a tendency to develop asthma.
Some children are allergic and have mild form of asthma – inflammation in the airways – without being aware of it. Then a virus infection comes along and gives the obvious asthma symptoms. |
| Do infections trigger asthma? |
Yes, viral respiratory infections – such as the common cold or flu – can trigger asthma. Try to avoid contact with people if you know they have a respiratory infection.
Virus infections are thought to be more likely to trigger symptoms if the underlying inflammation isn’t properly treated. |
| Why don’t antibiotics help against asthmatic inflammation in the airways? |
Penicillin and other antibiotics are only effective against bacterial infections. The inflammation in asthma is not caused by bacteria, so antibiotics will have no effect on that.
People with asthma can get bacterial catarrh, and then it may be a good idea to treat the acute condition with antibiotics. But you should remember that this treatment will not have any effect on the chronic, underlying inflammation of your asthma.
Asthma inflammation needs to be treated with anti-inflammatory medicine (controller). And since the inflammation usually also causes muscle contraction and narrowing of the airways, it should also be treated with bronchodilators (reliever medication). |
| Is asthma contagious? | | No. Asthma in itself cannot be spread to other people. On the other hand, a person with asthma can catch bronchial catarrh just as easily as anyone else. And bronchial catarrh can be contagious, but not more so than an ordinary cold. |
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