RESEARCHERS at Southampton University are investigating techniques for recognising asthma in children who wheeze before the age of three.

Almost half of all infants experience wheezing before their third birthday, but only 15 per cent go on to be diagnosed as asthma sufferers in later years.

The new study could lead to the development of a simple blood tests which would enable earlier detection of asthma.

This would allow earlier asthma therapy for those who need it and avoid unnecessary medication for children whose wheezing disappears as they grow older.

Project leader Dr Jo Clough said: "A minor infection or allergic reaction can cause the airway walls to temporarily swell, narrowing the air passage and inducing temporary wheezing.

"Boys are born with narrower airway passages than girls so are far more likely to wheeze during very early childhood, which explains why two out of every three babies who start wheezing are male, but also why boys are more likely to grow out of wheezing than girls."

The first stage of the Southampton project began in 1993 when researchers asked the parents of 107 babies who had started wheezing to participate in the study.

The babies were weighed and a blood sample was taken, and their parents were asked to fill in a general lifestyle questionnaire. The babies' progress has been monitored ever since and the researchers are about to visit the children, now aged five to eight years, to see which have developed asthma.

Dr Clough said: "I would estimate that around 25 per cent of the children in the survey are now asthmatic.

"Once we have established this, we can compare the data we collected from the asthmatic children when they were babies and see which factors they have in common.

"I hope that in future a blood test might help us to predict which wheezy infants will go on to develop asthma."

The study is a further boost to Southampton's status as one of the world's top centres for asthma research.

The Air Action Appeal has been launched to build a £1 million asthma and allergy resource centre in Southampton to combat the city's high asthma rate.

To make a donation to the appeal or for more information call 01703 771234.

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