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ASTHMA

FACT: A lot of students have asthma, and students with asthma miss a lot of school.

In a U.S. government-funded review paper that
considered 66 studies, “virtually all showed a
correlation between this disease and high rates of
student absenteeism.” Asthma affects about 10% of
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schoolkids, 20% in some communities, and accounts
for about one-third of all school days missed by
American students.
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Sometimes students miss school because of asthma
symptoms — wheezing, shortness of breath, rapid
breathing, chest tightness — or a full-on asthma
attack. Other times, students with asthma stay home
as a preventive measure.
Mould is particularly problematic on campuses, as it
“If there’s no school nurse in the building, parents can grow on damp wood, paper, carpet, even dirty
don’t necessarily want to send their child to school, glass panes. Airborne mould spores not only can
for fear that nobody will recognize the symptoms,” exacerbate symptoms in children diagnosed with
says school nurse Mary Ellen Conley of the Asthma asthma but also can contribute to the development
and Allergy Association of America. of asthma and wheezing in previously healthy kids. 48

This fear is not unfounded: In Tacoma, Washington, a Airborne mould spores
10-year-old died at school of an acute asthma attack,
despite having a treatment plan and medication on not only can exacerbate
the premises. The school nurse was not on duty the symptoms in children
day of the girl’s attack, and nobody was trained to diagnosed with asthma but
give her an injection. 44
also can contribute to the

Only 45% of U.S. schools have a full-time nurse; 25% development of asthma and
have no nurse at all. 45 wheezing in previously

It’s not just students who miss school due to healthy kids.
asthma. “Educational employees report the
highest proportions of work-related asthma cases In a study of 180 classroom air samples at 12
in the United States,” according to the Harvard schools in the U.S. Northeast, conducted by Boston
report. Children’s Hospital, “mould was present in 100% of
classrooms,” in both new and older schools.
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Custodians may chronically inhale cleaning-product
fumes known to exacerbate asthma symptoms, In recent years, countless schools nationwide have
resulting in lost time and worker compensation. Fully had to close, sometimes for months or even longer,
6% of school custodians become ill or injured on the because of mould. In New Jersey, a half dozen
job each year due to chemical exposures. districts delayed the start of school, as campuses had
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become a “Petri dish of mould.” In Connecticut, a
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Other asthma triggers include dust mites, mould infestation caused by poor gutter drainage,
cockroaches, rat and mouse dander, and mould — all broken gym windows, and condensation on the
“common in schools,” according to the EPA. piping forced a school to close for the entire spring
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and school personnel to discard all papers, personal
items, and rugs. After a Philadelphia elementary
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