Diagnosing asthma in infants and young children is often difficult, but there are a few distinctive early symptoms that parents can look for, including having wheezing episodes more than three times in a year and coughing when emotional or after exercise, a Taipei pediatrician said.
Reshining Clinic deputy superintendent Pan Chun-shen (潘俊伸) said he treated a boy who had suffered from coughing for more than a month and wheezing several times, and the boy’s mother was confused about her son’s condition, wondering whether he might have inherited her allergies, had asthma or just had a cold.
Pan said that many infants cough and wheeze when they have a respiratory tract infections or when the seasons change, and a study showed about 80 percent of infants (aged under two) wheeze when their respiratory tract is infected, but only about one-third will develop asthma.
The conventional method of examining asthma in young children is mainly aimed at children two years old or older, but an overseas study has suggested a 10-item asthma prediction tool that can help doctors and parents notice early signs of possible asthma, he said.
The items include gender, age, wheezing apart from colds, frequent wheezing, wheezing that interferes with daily activities, wheezing accompanied by shortness of breath, wheezing triggered by exercise and wheezing triggered by inhaled allergens (house dust, pollen or furry pets) eczema, and parental history of asthma.
Pan said that if the child is a boy about two or three years old, has wheezed more than three times in the past year, coughs when emotional or after exercise and has suffered from eczema, then the risk of developing asthma will be high.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all