Virus infection increases risk of asthma

In young children, even very mild respiratory complaints activate specific white blood cells known as eosinophils.
 
As adults, these children run a high risk of developing asthma, a disease in which the eosinophils play an important role. Children infected with the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) also have more activated white blood cells. In her doctoral thesis, Caroline Lindemans concluded this could be how an RSV infection increases the risk of developing asthma.

She was awarded her PhD from Utrecht University on September 1. Her thesis is titled 'Systemic innate immune response in the pathogenesis of wheezing illnesses in infants'.