There is a connection between the flu and people who have asthma, but researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health say for healthy people, getting the flu will not cause an asthma attack.
A study in the November issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine does say, however, that viral infections constrict the airways in the lungs of people with asthma, leading to the wheezing and shortness of breath characteristic of an asthma attack.
For those with asthma, the eosinophil, a type of white blood cell involved in allergy, is also involved in triggering asthma attacks. However, viral infections do not normally bring eosinophils into the lungs.
Dr. Allison Fryer says because many people with asthma are also allergic, it might be the allergies that change the response to a virus. In a study of animals with allergies, before a virus infection, eosinophils gather along the nerves in the lungs just like in humans.
Fryer says it's believed the flu virus triggers them into action. The authors say their findings suggest that blocking the entire parasympathetic nervous system, or clearing the body of eosinophils might head off problems.
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