UTMB seeks 10 to 15 volunteers for 'potentially ground-breaking'
study FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: APRIL 6, 2007 GALVESTON - Everyone
already knows what causes asthma attacks: It's an allergic
reaction to things like cigarette smoke, house dust, cat hair,
horse hair, cockroach feces and other environmental substances,
right? The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston,
which the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently
designated as part of its Asthma Clinical Research Network
(ACRN), has joined seven other premier respiratory centers
nationwide in a federally funded study of whether the
conventional medical wisdom is wrong, in whole or in part.
"We're looking to find out whether asthma may be caused by an
infectious organism," said pulmonologist and allergist William
J. Calhoun, M.D., vice chair for research in UTMB's Department
of Internal Medicine and Sealy and Smith Distinguished Professor
of Internal Medicine. Just as most stomach ulcers - long
believed to be a result of stress - ultimately were s