Asthma is a disease which, according to Massoud Mahmoudi in Allergy and Asthma: Practical Diagnosis and Management, is “…a disorder of chronic inflammation of the airways associated with episodic and at least partially reversible obstruction of airflow plane” (page 125). According to Mahmoudi, its causes are unknown and its pathogenesis is not fully understood. However, it is very likely that asthma can be determined to be more closely related to a syndrome than to a disease with a single structural or genetic cause; this determination can be deduced by considering the various clinical manifestations and irregular modes of inheritance. One of the main environmental stimuli that exacerbate asthma symptoms, along with the asthma attack, is allergy by stimulating inflammation, which is the main cause of the symptoms. According to Gerard J. Tortora and Bryan Derrickson in Principles of Anatomy and Physiology, inflammation is a nonspecific defensive response of the body to tissue damage. Conditions that stimulate inflammation include: pathogens, abrasions, chemical irritation, cellular distortion or disorder, and extreme temperatures. In any case of inflammation, due to non-specificity, inflammation has three phases: vasodilation and increased permeability of blood vessels; movement of white blood cells from the blood to the interstitial fluid; tissue repair (2012). According to the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Understanding Asthma pathophysiology, one of the ways asthma is defined is through bronchial hyperresponsiveness; this is how inflammation affects the lungs. Bronchial hyperresponsiveness can be described by decreased airflow after bronchial irritation from methacholine or histamine. Bronchial challenge with allergens induces an early and late phase... half of the article... a medicaid population. Retrieved from http://www.wvdhhr.org/bph/hsc/staterv/viewer.asp?target=http://www.wvdhhr.or/bph/hsc/pubs/briefs/012/default.htm&Source=pub. asp&DocID=53International study on asthma and allergies in childhood. (2011). The Global Asthma Report. Retrieved from http://www.globalasthmareport.org/images/files/Global_Asthma_Report_2011.pdfMahmoudi, M. (2008). Allergy and asthma: practical diagnosis and management. (pages 124-125). New York: McGraw-Hill Medical. DOI: web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmyfXzIxNDkyOF9fQU41?sid=da57c6be-dfae-41d0-a054-42aa7b546@sessionmgr4001&vid=2&format=EB&rid=1National Institute of Health. (2003). Understanding the pathophysiology of asthma. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12776439Tortora, G., & Derrickson, B. (2012). Principles of anatomy and physiology. (13 ed., page 888). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.