Open Airways, a charity aimed at educating the community about asthma, launched an appeal for nurses interested in learning about asthma care.

Registered nurse Liz Boden, who is qualified in paediatric nursing and is the only qualified nurse in asthma care, said as asthma is an "enormous'' problem in Bermuda, there is a tremendous need for more qualified nurses.

She has been working for four years trying to educate the community and increase awareness and the results are "very exciting but there is a need for many, many more nurses in this area.'' So far, there has been a great response and if funds are made available two courses may be offered.

Increased sensitivity, or twitchiness of the bronchial tubes, is a key feature of asthma and as a result, they constrict when exposed to the things that cause irritation or triggers.

The constriction forces the muscles in the walls of the tubes to tighten and go into spasms, while its inner lining becomes inflamed, producing excessive amounts of mucus which plugs up the airwaves.

Asthma sufferers fall into three categories: Mild -- those who only wheeze a few times a year and do not pay visits to the hospital. They can also get by using a reliever inhaler.

Moderate -- asthmatics who experience symptoms on a weekly or monthly basis.

They, along with taking the inhaler, may also use other preventative medicines even though they are not suffering from an attack.

Severe -- those who are frequently admitted to the hospital and suffer from symptoms almost daily.

"Asthma is very common in Bermuda but it is very easy to treat. It is not complicated. The way we treat it is by encouraging people to avoid the triggers that cause reactions,'' Mrs. Boden said.

She added: "The things that annoy us are household sprays. Get your children in the air, get smokers and cats out of the house. It is all allergy avoidance.

"Then there is the matter of good preventative treatment. A lot of preventative medicines are very effective and that is why asthma is easy to treat, but they are preventative and must be taken every day.

"For effective control of asthma, symptoms can be achieved through education and prevention.'' Mrs. Boden said the medical community has already seen a heavy decrease in hospital admissions and visits to emergency due to the increased awareness about prevention.

"The big aim is to get qualified asthma nurses in all areas of the health care system which means hospitals, doctors offices, clinics, and schools. We want them everywhere so we can work as team,'' Mrs. Boden said.

She added that the best asthma training in the world comes from Britain so "we are going to bring tutors from the National Asthma and Respiratory Training Centre in England to Bermuda next spring to conduct a two day intensive course for 24 nurses who will have studied on their own for six months with a distance learning package''.

"The funding for this has been provided by the End to End Charity walk. There has been an overwhelming response for this programme from nurses in Bermuda and over 60 nurses have called expressing an interest.

"If funding is made available, we will hold two courses so we could educate 48 nurses.'' Mrs. Boden said: "My dream is to have a really well organised asthma care programme in Bermuda so people with asthma can live normal, healthy, unrestricted lives.'' Asthma affects one in seven children and one in ten adults in Bermuda. The main causes are genetics, climate and an affluent society.

Genetics is based on the fact that Bermuda is a small community which leads to in-breeding.

The climate is variable with high humidity which leads to moulds, mildew, dust mites and cockroaches. Flowers flourish, resulting in a high pollen count.

Being an affluent society lends itself to high quality housing filled with carpets, settees and soft toys which can collect moulds, mildews and dust mites.

Children play indoors as neighbourhoods are no longer safe, roads are dangerous and children are attracted to the television, video, computers etc.