ATS NEWS TIPS FROM FEB. JOURNALS
For Release: Feb. 20, 1997 6:00 p.m.
The following stories appear in the American Thoracic Society's (ATS)
February issue of the "American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care
Medicine."
- Summertime haze is associated with worsening attacks of asthma even in areas where pollen and weather conditions played no role. Ozone pollution is seen as the primary culprit.
- Tuberculosis is highly contagious in a prison population, according to Spanish researchers. In their study, two thirds of the prisoners with tuberculosis contracted the disease while in prison. Crowded conditions and poor adherence to treatment are believed to be the main contributors.
Key Words:
SUMMERTIME HAZE WORSENS ASTHMA ATTACKS
Investigators at a summer camp for asthmatic children found that summer
haze regularly and significantly worsened asthma attacks. Exacerbation
of asthma, chest symptoms, and lung function strongly correlated with haze
pollution. One hundred and sixty-six children, ages 7 to 13, were
monitored 24 hours a day by certified respiratory therapists who ensured
that the children took their medications. The camp was located in rural
Connecticut and pollen and weather conditions did not contribute to the
increased severity of the attack. Ozone was the pollutant most
consistently associated with the worsening asthma. Investigators found
that ozone levels exceeded air quality standards 25 percent of the time.
They noted that for sensitive asthmatics danger was significant at levels
lower than that which causes an ozone alert.
PRISON POPULATION AT HIGH RISK FOR TUBERCULOSIS
Spanish investigators found that two thirds of all tuberculosis in a prison
population was contracted while the victims were in the prison itself.
Thirty percent of the inmates with TB were TB-positive upon entry, and 18
percent were HIV positive upon entry. Researchers also noted that the TB
rate observed during their study was twice that in the same prison just two
years earlier. In an analysis of 175 prisoners in clusters of 25, it was
estimated that a source case in each cluster infected 62 percent of the
other prisoners, or, on the average, one TB positive prisoner would infect
four of the seven prisoners in his cluster. Investigators cited crowded
conditions and poor adherence to treatment as the main contributors to the
TB spread. They strongly recommended that directly observed treatment
(DOT) be the standard of care for all prisoners with TB.
The information in these ATS News Tips is embargoed until 6:00 p.m.,
February 20, 1997. For the complete text of these articles or for more
information, call Christina Shepherd, American Thoracic Society, at (212)
315-6440 or fax her at (212) 315-6455.
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