World Asthma Day seminar - `Pet animals, birds & old carpets trigger asthma’

KARACHI- Baqai Medical University’s (BMU) pulmonology department and Aga Khan University jointly organised a CME seminar on “Bronchial Asthma” to mark the World Asthma Day.

The seminar held at Baqai Medical varsity was largely attended by faculty members, general public and students.  

Terming pet cats and birds, furry toys, old carpets `factors responsible for triggering asthma’, experts of pulmonary diseases urged the people to remove all those things from homes.

Baqai Medical University’s Pulmonology department’s Assistant Professor, Dr Zafaryab Hussain, delivered his lecture on `Obstructive airway diseases’.

Discussing asthma, COPD, and asthma COPD Overlap Syndrome (ACOS), he highlighted the differential points among these conditions. He said asthma usually begins in childhood and there is usually family history of the disease.

Treatment is with Controller Medicines, like Inhaled Corticosteroids, Inhaled Bronchodilators, etc, and reliever medicines as and when need basis, he said, adding that COPD is preventable and can be managed with medicines and by quitting smoking habit.

Elaborating, he said asthma usually starts around 40 years among smokers or workers in dusty places, and domestic pollution of biomass fuel etc and it is treated with Bronchodilators, oxygen, and steroids in Inhaler form.

“Though patient with ACOS have symptoms of both asthma and COPD, they should be treated as having asthma,” he suggested.

Dow University of Health Sciences’ (DUHS) Associate Professor (Pulmonology) Dr Nisar Rao, gave his lecture on treatment of asthma among adults as per New GINA guidelines.

Stressing the need for assessing severity by using Peak flow meter, he said patients’ awareness about the disease and its treatment were essential parts of management plan as instruction how and when to use inhalers, besides inhaler used should be checked on every visit.

He discussed in detail steps for the treatment of asthma as per New GINA guidelines.

In his lecture on `Asthma in Children and how to manage it as per GINA guidelines’ BMU’s Assistant Professor Paediatrics, Dr Zafar Mehdi, said it is difficult to diagnose asthma before four years of age. Few viral and bacterial infections may present asthmatic symptoms. Peak flow meters cannot be useful before 5 years. Inhalers should be given with spacers with face mask attached, he added.

He further said that usually asthma in children grew out with age but it may persist in 30-50 per cent cases.

He advised that all the factors responsible for triggering asthma such as pet cats, birds, furry toys and old carpets must be removed. Controller medicine should be used for long time and relievers whenever required, he added.

The Aga Khan University’s critical care pulmonology department’s Dr Ali Bin Zubairi, presented cases pertaining to mimicking asthma which include allergic Bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis, Foreign Boby in Airways, Vocal Cords Dysfunction and a case of congestive heart failure.

He underscored the need for having detailed history, clinical examination, besides carrying out relevant investigations.

All the above cases presented with symptoms of asthma were highly appreciated by the audience.

Earlier, BMU’s Dr Zafaryab Hussain presented his welcome address while Dr Akbar Shaikh gave vote of thanks.-PR