We're still trying to see if they're just having viral-induced wheezing or if they really have asthma, and we've always treated these kids like they have asthma," said Dr. Babies generally wheeze due to viruses, and in school-aged children, wheeze is.

Jennifer Appleyard, chief of allergy and immunology at St. The research was published in the issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. "These studies suggest that maybe we don't need to. "These are kids who are at the brink.

The second study, from Canadian doctors, assessed inhaled steroids for wheezing associated with a virus, and found that while preventive treatment did reduce the need for rescue medications, the benefits weren't strong enough to outweigh the potential side effects. One study, from British researchers, looked at the use of oral prednisolone and found no significant differences between the treated group of children and those who received a placebo.

Maybe we should treat viral-induced wheezing differently." Part of the problem, she explained, is that it can be difficult to tell if small children actually have asthma, or if they're just wheezing from a cold or some other virus.