In a message dated 10.11.98 23:31:01 BST, you write:
> Adding
> pollutants and a bit of "free radical" theory to the picture made it
> become quite interesting but, the pressure of insurance medicals etc.
> ... the enthusiasm waned. However, I am still not convinced that all of
> the heart and lung disease hereabouts can be put down to fish and chips
> and fags (cigarettes not govt. ministers) quite so adamantly as it has
I spent 6 months as a ship's doc once, caring for 200 young healthy(ish)
people plus a few families and crew. I was amazed bt the number of inhalers in
the medical room. This turned out to be due to young asthmatics bringing a
year's supply of inhalers with them, then not needing them. No-one seemed to
get asthma after their first few weeks.
One family arrived with an 8 year old who'd had terrible asthma for years. He
apparently took about 2 months to get to the no asthma stage, but after that
he was fine. They stayed several years on board, travelling the world but
living on the (air conditioned) ship and the child never got asthma symptoms
So much so that when they went on a family trip for a week, their first off
the ship in 2 or more years, they forgot his inhalers and 3 days later they
returned early because he had an asthma attack, the first in years.
Same with everyone.
I intended doing a proper study of them but never got round to it :-(
I don't know how to explain it though. Any thoughts?
Grace Marshall
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|