Is asthma contagious?

Asthma is a relatively common disease and is a hereditary disease. If someone in the family suffers from asthma, the next generation is more likely to develop asthma. When suffering from asthma, patients will experience difficulty breathing, especially when the weather changes and the temperature is unstable, which will make the asthma disease become more serious. Suffering from asthma will have a great impact on the patient's physical health and life.

Is asthma contagious?

1. Asthma is not contagious, but it can be inherited. When asthma attacks, it usually presents symptoms such as repeated wheezing, expiratory dyspnea, chest tightness or coughing, etc., and it usually occurs suddenly at night or in the morning.

2. In fact, asthma is one of the most common diseases in the world, but it is still not clear what causes asthma. It is generally believed that asthma is a multi-gene inherited genetic disease, which is affected by both genetic and environmental factors.

3. This means that asthma is not contagious, but it can be inherited because asthma can be considered a genetic disease. The probability of relatives of asthma patients getting asthma is much greater than that of non-asthma patients, and the closer the relatives, the higher the probability of people getting asthma, especially twins.

Symptoms of asthma

The main symptom of asthma in children is difficulty in exhaling, accompanied by symptoms such as coughing and sputum production. When examining the lungs, a whistle-like sound can be heard, which is called "wheezing."

First of all, there are often allergic symptoms a few minutes before an asthma attack, such as itchy nose, itchy eyes, sneezing, runny nose, tears and dry cough. These manifestations are called prodromal symptoms.

Afterwards, chest tightness appears immediately, and the chest feels as if it is being pressed by a heavy stone. After about 10 minutes, difficulty in exhaling occurs. At this time, the asthma sound can be heard even without the doctor's stethoscope. The patient is forced to sit upright, with his head stretched forward, his shoulders hunched, and his hands supporting himself, gasping for breath. Such attacks can last from tens of minutes to half an hour and resolve on their own or with treatment.

In addition, asthma can also manifest as a chronic disease, that is, it can occur in all seasons. Regardless of whether it occurs or not, there is often chest tightness and shortness of breath, wheezing and asthma-like breathing at ordinary times, accompanied by sticky sputum and low fever. Such patients are often unable to participate in general work.

Sometimes an asthma attack begins without any warning symptoms. Some asthma attacks last for several days, and the patient often suffocates due to extreme difficulty breathing, and often dies from heart failure and physical exhaustion. Some asthma symptoms are atypical, manifested by long-term recurrent dry cough, itchy throat, and chest tightness. Generally, anti-inflammatory and antitussive treatments are ineffective, and anti-asthmatic treatments are often used to relieve the symptoms.