Annually, asthma is responsible for 1 million emergency room visits, 400,000 hospitalizations, and 5000 deaths according to the NHLBI. In addition, 10 million missed school-days per year and 100 million days of restricted activity are attributed to this disease. While there is no known cause or cure for asthma, recent studies have shown that hospitalizations and emergency room visits can be reduced by as much as 78% and 73%, respectively, when the disease is properly managed. According to the EPA, the occurance of children with asthma more than doubled the rate of two decades ago; in 2001 the percentage of asthmatic children was 8.7% (6.3 million children).