In a new Respirology study, having measles—a highly contagious respiratory infection—during early childhood was linked with an increased risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in middle age, but only in adults with asthma and a considerable history of smoking.
In a new Respirology study, having measles—a highly contagious respiratory infection—during early childhood was linked with an increased risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in middle age, but only in adults with asthma and a considerable history of smoking.
While additional research is needed to confirm the findings, scientists speculate that airway damage from childhood measles may predispose an individual to asthma-like symptoms and increased susceptibility to airway obstruction if they also smoked.
“While we have found measles to not have an effect by itself, our findings suggest that infection in early childhood could contribute to COPD when combined with significant asthma and smoking histories,” said lead author Dr. Jennifer Perret, of The University of Melbourne, in Australia.
Additional Information
Link to Study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/resp.13297
About Journal
Respirology is a journal of international standing, publishing peer-reviewed articles of scientific excellence in clinical and clinically-relevant experimental respiratory biology and disease. Fields of research include immunology, intensive and critical care, epidemiology, cell and molecular biology, pathology, pharmacology, physiology, paediatric respiratory medicine, clinical trials, interventional pulmonology and thoracic surgery.
The Journal aims to encourage the international exchange of results and publishes papers in the following categories: Original Articles, Editorials, Reviews, and Correspondences.
Respirology is the preferred journal of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, has been adopted as the preferred English journal of the Japanese Respiratory Society and the Taiwan Society of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and is an official journal of the World Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology.
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