This is an interesting article about the prevalence of Asthma in Puerto Rico and how those affected have a harder time controlling the disease.
The island, with a population of 4 million, already has 2.5 times the death rate stemming from asthma as the mainland, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Puerto Ricans in the U.S. also have been hit hard by asthma, with an asthma attack rate 2.5 times higher than for whites.
Adding to the problem is that Puerto Rican children do not respond as well as those from other ethnic groups to the number one medication prescribed to asthmatics: Albuterol, which comes in an inhaler used to relieve sudden attacks. As a result, several major pharmaceutical companies are working to create another medication, but they are still years away from doing so.
"What's a challenge is that Puerto Ricans are not all the same," said Dr. Esteban Gonzalez Burchard, director of the Center for Genes, Environments & Health at the University of California, San Francisco. "(They) are racially mixed."
Those with European ancestry are likely most at risk of developing asthma, he said.
No one knows for certain why Puerto Ricans suffer so much from asthma, despite decades of research.
Theories include volcanic ash that drifts in from nearby Montserrat, clouds of Sahara dust that blanket the city in the summer and fungi that flourish in the tropical humidity — particularly bad this year, the wettest on record.
Some researchers suspect poverty and the fact that tens of thousands of people like Jaycco live in dingy public housing projects with mice and ****roaches — known asthma triggers.
