Cameron Currie

Section snippets Asthma diagnosis and RCs An RC with asthma presupposes an accurate asthma diagnosis. Asthma is a clinical syndrome, and confirming a diagnosis in the presence of a potential RC is problematic because of the possibility of shared symptoms and clinical findings. Asthma is characterized by airway inflammation, usually with a type 2 signature, airflow limitation that is usually reversible, and bronchial hyperreactivity.

Early-life colonization patterns of the airway epithelium by bacteria and the co-detection of specific bacterial species with rhinovirus (RV) has been shown to increase the risk of childhood asthma. Staphylococcus aureus is a common nasal symbiont that has implicated in the development of childhood asthma and chronic sinusitis. In this study we tested how S. aureus and RV co-infection affected the bronchial epithelium.