Infections and inflammation (where the body responds to injury or infection) are important causes of diseases that affect the airways, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). One common type is called type-2 inflammation, which happens when the immune system is overactive. This can lead to conditions like asthma, hay fever, nasal polyps, and eczema.
Healthcare professionals can measure type-2 inflammation using a blood test (which looks at eosinophils, a type of white blood cell) and a breath test (which measures nitric oxide in exhaled air). These test results are usually higher in people with type-2 inflammatory conditions, including certain types of asthma, COPD, hay fever, nasal polyps, and eczema. People with this type of asthma often have more severe symptoms.
Infections can also make airway diseases worse. They can either trigger flare-ups or develop as a complication, leading to poorer health outcomes.
What is still not well understood is when inflammation first begins, and whether early warning signs can predict who will later develop airway disease, serious infections, or hard-to-treat symptoms that require hospital care. This project aims to better understand the order in which inflammation, infection, and airway disease develop, and how they are connected.