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Around five percent of Germans suffer from asthma symptoms, that is four to five million people.
The condition is twice as common among children as among adults.
And the number of those affected seems to have continued to increase in recent years.
In most of them, the inflammation of the bronchi, which is behind the typical symptoms of shortness of breath and coughing, has allergic causes.
Hay fever can also turn into asthma in the long term.
Typical triggers of asthma attacks are accordingly classic allergens such as pollen, animal hair or mold.
But infections, medication, cold air and even physical exertion can sometimes cause the inflammation to flare up again and the bronchi to swell up again.
Superfluous therapies - a problem especially with children
The good news: especially in children, the symptoms often disappear again over time - which unfortunately doctors tend to overlook.
With the consequence that they receive superfluous therapies for far too long.
New forms of treatment such as modern antibody drugs, which are increasingly used, also give rise to hope.
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Do you have any questions about diagnosis or therapy?
What would you ask us to find out for you?
In a series of specialist interviews, we have the opportunity to ask your questions to one of our selected experts.
After the clinical pictures diabetes and irritable bowel syndrome, we will devote ourselves to the topic of "asthma" in the next part.
We only have one request: formulate your questions in such a way that they are not only of personal but also of general interest.
Please understand, but otherwise it will be difficult to include this in the interview.
Please send us your questions by email to: Gesundheit@welt.de.
We will include selected questions in the interview.