A killer is on the loose in Baltimore.
Most of the victims are children, some of whom never reach their fifth birthday. It has killed more than 400 people over the past five years, and another 80 to 100 Baltimoreans may die this year.
They did not die of gunshot wounds. They weren?t stabbed to death or run down by a drunk driver.
Instead, their killer attacked their lungs so violently that it literally stole their breath away.
The killer? Asthma, a devastating disease that affects 5 million school-aged children throughout the country and causes repeated episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and relentless coughing.
Those who died could have lived ? all of them, with proper treatment and education. The deaths have prompted some officials to call it an epidemic.
Maryland officials say air quality in the state has improved since testing began in 1980, but deaths caused by asthma statewide have nearly doubled from 50 to 60 deaths a year to 150 in the worst year, 1996. The death toll has remained in the 80s and 90s since 2000, according to Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene data.
InBaltimore City and county, more than twice as many people die of the treatable disease every year than similarly sized counties in Maryland.
For the last six years, Dr. Carol Blaidsdell, chief of pediatric pulmonology and allergy at the University of Maryland Hospital for Children, has called asthma an epidemic.
Baltimore City?s blacks are at greater risk of dying from asthma before they get to a hospital, Blaidsdell said. “The severity of asthma is pretty bad in the area of West Baltimore. There is a much higher rate of urgent-care needs from this population.”
Baltimore City Health Department data confirms that the most asthma-related EMS calls between June 2005 and May 2006 came from West Baltimore and parts of the eastern region, where between 113 and 215 calls were made in each of four zip codes during the year.
Blacks are at greater risk for a variety of reasons, Blaidsdell said, including poverty, lack of health care, poor housing and genetic differences in how they respond to medication.
After looking at data gathered by The Examiner, Baltimore City Public Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein first called the crisis a “serious public-health problem.” But, he added, “I see why some people would call it an epidemic.”
There is no reason children should die of asthma, he said, with free health care available through the state of Maryland’s Children’s Health Insurance Program and a roving Breathmobile that offers free services at city schools and recreation centers.
“It?s a failure to pubic health and the medical profession when a child has untreated asthma,” Sharfstein said.
Children in West Baltimore are dying because too many remain “untreated or poorly treated,” he said.
In response to the high death rates, Sharfstein established an Assistant Commissioner for Healthy Homes. Madeleine Shea?s job includes surveying homes for asthma triggers and developing programs and policies to reduce these risks.
Shea?s strategy includes pairing asthma trigger investigations with the city’s lead poisoning environmental risk assessments.
The University of Maryland Hospital for Children initiated its own response four years ago, establishing the Breathmobile, a grant- and donation-supported mobile clinic that visits schools and recreation centers. The roving clinic screens, tests and treats children for asthma and allergies. Information gleaned by the registered nurse and nurse practitioner who tour with the Breathmobile is relayed to the children’s doctors, along with treatment information and goals specific to each child.
“We have a lot of parents who say that they won?t let their kids play sports because of their asthma, but if they take their medicines they will be able to have an active life,” said Michelle Foster, coordinator of the Breathmobile and a registered nurse. “You have a very large number of parents who don’t get it.” They try to get parents to understand that if their child has to use their albuterol (rescue inhaler) more than once or twice a day, “then your child’s asthma is not under control.”
Staff Writer Heather Faison contributed to this report .
Is your home stealing your breath?
For parents, air quality in the home is crucial for a child?s health and safety, experts say.
Some healthy habits to consider:
» Eliminate spray cleaners, hairsprays and aerosols.
» Pour cleansers onto a cloth, then wipe the surface to be cleaned.
» Avoid smoking indoors, even if children don?t have asthma.
» Remove old carpeting. Area rugs are easier to clean and remove.
» Excess moisture encourages the growth of mold and mildew and causes old paint to shed its lead.
? Source: Baltimore Healthy Homes Initiative
