Puerto Rico has one of the highest rates of asthma prevalence in the world, with the respiratory condition affecting the wellbeing of tens of thousands of children. In the US Caribbean territory, child wellness is nearly 300% more likely to be affected by asthma than white non-Hispanic children in the continental United States and cases of the respiratory condition have jumped in the last year.
According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Puerto Rico, with its population of 4million, has 2.5 times the death rate stemming from asthma as the mainland. Health officials suspect that the prevalence has something to do with the island’s heavy rains that unleash millions of spores, but even Puerto Ricans living in the US have been hit hard by asthma, being 2.5 times more likely to have an asthma attack than their white counterparts, so what’s going on?
Another problem is that Albuterol, the number one inhaler medication prescribed to asthmatics to relieve sudden attacks, isn’t as effective in Puerto Rican children, compared to other ethnic groups. With this in mind, several major pharmaceutical companies are working to create another medication, but this could take years. According to Dr Esteban Gonzalez Burchard, director of the Centre for Genes, Environments & Health at the University of California, San Francisco, the challenge is that ‘Puerto Ricans are not all the same,’ but rather they ‘are racially mixed.’ He added that those with European ancestry are most at risk of developing asthma.
Despite decades of research, no one knows for certain why Puerto Ricans suffer so much from asthma. One theory is that it’s due to the volcanic ash that drifts in from nearby Montserrat, whilst others believe that the clouds of Sahara dust that blanket the city in the summer have a part to play. Or else the fungi that flourish in the tropical humidity is the culprit, which would explain why asthma rates have been particularly bad this year, as it was the wettest season on record.
‘There is nothing worse than watching a child have an asthma attack. You think they are going to die,’ said Dr. Gilberto Ramos, a professor at the graduate School of Health at the University of Puerto Rico. However, he added, ‘unfortunately, the children in Puerto Rico do have the highest rates in the world. Whether it’s more genetics or more environment, we don’t know.’
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