Asthma study to factor in Katrina

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Asthma study to factor in Katrina

Times Picayune - New Orleans,LA

450 N.O. children sought for research

Saturday, February 17, 2007

By Kate Moran

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-

19/1171696574121950.xml & coll=1

Tulane University and the city health department are launching a

study to explore how exposure to mold and other allergens might have

inflamed asthma cases among young children since Hurricane Katrina.

The study is the first since the storm that will bring researchers

into private homes to test for the presence of mold, dust, cockroach

droppings and other irritants that might trigger asthma attacks in

children between 4 and 12 years old, whose lungs are particularly

susceptible.

Children who enroll in the study will be evaluated for their

sensitivity to mold and other allergens. Researchers also will comb

their homes for contaminants and dispatch an asthma counselor to

help parents sanitize the house and control symptoms with air

filters and mattress covers.

Dr. Maureen Lichtveld, chairman of environmental health sciences at

the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and one of

the principal investigators, said professional counselors will work

with parents to make sure their home is clean and their asthmatic

children regularly visit a doctor and take medicine to suppress

their symptoms.

" We're going to see if we can eliminate triggers to asthma from the

home and if the severity of the disease is lessened by the

intervention, " said Dr. s, director of the city health

department and the other principal investigator.

Lichtveld and s both said that little is known about whether

Katrina exacerbated asthma symptoms in children, who are more

sensitive than adults to environmental contaminants.

Rumors circulated for months that Katrina had provoked an increase

in severe respiratory problems, but a study completed last year by

the state health department dismissed what had come to be called

the " Katrina cough. "

Lichtveld said that study involved only a quick survey of local

emergency rooms, not in-depth testing of mold and other allergens

that might have infiltrated flooded homes.

The research team is now recruiting for the study, called Head Off

Environmental Asthma in Louisiana, by sending home letters to

students at public and parochial schools. Physicians, churches and

community groups also are passing out information. In all,

researchers hope 450 children will participate.

Lichtveld said she hopes to have all participants enrolled in the

study within six months. While her team might eventually extend the

study into suburban areas, for now it is limited to New Orleans

because asthma tends to be more common among city children.

Dr. Floyd Malveaux, executive director of the Merck Childhood Asthma

Network, one of the groups paying for the study, said the prevalence

of childhood asthma has been increasing during the past two decades

largely because of environmental factors.

" We know that there are certain environmental things that make

asthma worse. It is common among children living close to large

interstates where you have a great deal of contamination from

automobile fumes, " Malveaux said. " We postulate that, here in New

Orleans, we may see a worsening of asthma because of an increase in

mold spores in the air. "

Researchers from Tulane and the city health department have secured

more than $3 million from various health organizations, including

the National Institutes of Health, for the study.

To enroll in the study, families should call (504) 988-4325.

.. . . . . . .

Kate Moran can be reached at kmoran@... or (504) 826-

3491.