Asthma: Current status and future directions Asthma exacerbations: Origin,

Asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease, affecting up to 10 % of adults and 30 % of children in the Western world. Despite advances in asthma management, acute exacerbations continue to occur and impose considerable morbidity on patients and constitute a major burden on health care resources. Respiratory tract viruses have emerged as the most frequent triggers for exacerbations in both children and adults; however, the mechanisms underlying these remain poorly understood. More recently, it has become increasingly clear that interactions might exist between viruses and other triggers, increasing the likelihood of an exacerbation. In this UK, Medical Research Council, Predicta FP7 Collaborative Project, and the Wellcome vere asthma, in a trial of anti-IgE therapy, exacerbation rates over a 48-week period were 0.88 in the placebo group and 0.66 in the treatment group.3 Therefore these data suggest tha