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Allergies
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Foreword

More than 40 years ago, the United States Congress recognized the importance of studying allergic diseases and changed the name of the National Microbiological Institute. The new National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) reflected the growing importance of allergic diseases. Since then, NIAID has been a leader in biomedical research on allergic diseases and asthma.

Allergies are the sixth leading cause of chronic disease in the United States. Major scientific discoveries by NIAID scientists and those supported by NIAID have contributed significantly to our understanding of allergic diseases, including asthma, and have led to substantially better methods of diagnosing and treating them.

The Institute is especially concerned about the increasing asthma morbidity and mortality rates in the United States, particularly in minority populations. The seven-year-old boy pictured in this booklet represents the thousands of American inner-city minority children who have asthma, and who run a high risk of suffering from the most serious consequences of this treatable and controllable disease.

To help these children, NIAID has launched a major study in eight research institutions around the country. The scientists who are conducting the National Cooperative Inner-City Asthma Study are looking at many possible reasons why asthma is increasing and causing severe illness and death in inner-city minority children. In this creative and innovative study, they will be evaluating interventions that might be used to reverse this trend.

In this booklet, we examine the challenges faced by scientists studying asthma and allergic diseases and present some of the exciting research programs that are under way to meet these challenges. We also look down the road at how research for the future may help us reach the Institute's ultimate goal--to prevent asthma and allergic diseases.

Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

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