Last August, Mishka, an orphaned baby sea otter, started having difficulty breathing while at the Seattle Aquarium in Washington State. Her trouble began when smoke from wildfires in the northwestern U.S. swept toward Seattle. Lesanna Lahner, a veterinarian at the aquarium, examined Mishka and made a diagnosis: She was suffering from asthma. It was the first time the condition had been seen in a sea otter.
MISHKA THE SEA OTTER
COURTESY OF ALASKA SEALIFE CENTER
Got Asthma? Me Too!
One in 12 people suffer from a condition that makes it hard to breathe. Horses, cats, and even sea otters can face the same challenges.
COURTESY OF ALASKA SEALIFE CENTER
INHALER TRAINING: Mishka the sea otter practices using a device to treat her asthma.
Asthma causes airways in the lungs to become swollen, to narrow, and to produce a lot of mucus. During an asthma attack, it’s difficult to get air into the lungs, so the body can’t get the oxygen it needs (see How Asthma Affects People and Animals). “It’s kind of like trying to drive home and not getting anywhere because the freeway is clogged with cars,” says Lahner.
Almost 300 million people worldwide share Mishka’s condition. Most of them develop asthma in childhood. Horses and cats are also commonly diagnosed with the illness. In fact, it’s possible for any animal with lungs to get asthma. So why do some people and animals suffer from this illness but not others? And what can be done to help them?
OTTER EMERGENCY
Mishka arrived at the Seattle Aquarium last January after being rescued from a fishing net in Alaska when she was just a few days old. Lahner noticed Mishka was mildly coughing and sneezing. At first, the vet thought the otter might have nasal mites. “It’s kind of gross, but sea otters can get these little spiders in their noses and they cause irritation,” says Lahner.
But Mishka’s symptoms only got worse. In August, she suffered what looked like a full-blown asthma attack. Since no one had ever seen asthma in a sea otter, Lahner first ruled out more common lung infections, like pneumonia. She tested Mishka’s blood for elevated white blood cell levels and took X-rays of her chest to look for signs of inflammation (swelling) or fluid in her lungs—all signs of an infection. Next, she used a stethoscope to listen to the otter’s lungs as she breathed.
A wheezing sound in Mishka’s chest, a runny nose, and shortness of breath all pointed not to an infection, but to asthma. A person with asthma suffers the same types of symptoms.
Four other otters at the aquarium were also exposed to smoke from wildfires. Why was Mishka the only one to develop breathing problems? That’s a difficult question to answer, says Lahner. Scientists aren’t exactly sure what causes asthma in animals or humans. An individual’s genetics—traits an organism inherits from its parents—could make that individual more prone to the condition. Asthma also could be a reaction to irritating substances in the air, like smoke. Or it could be a combination of the two.
COURTESY OF CORNELL FELINE HEALTH CENTER
COMMON CONDITION: A vet demonstrates how to help a cat use an inhaler. One percent of pet cats in the U.S. are known to have asthma.
SOMETHING IN THE AIR
Exercise and even exposure to cold air can trigger some types of asthma. Other times, an asthma attack occurs when the body reacts to airborne allergens, like animal dander, mold spores, flower pollen, dust, or pollution. When people or animals have asthma, allergens can cause their immune systems, which protect their bodies against disease, to go into overdrive.
“Their bodies get confused and perceive allergens as though they are invaders, and their immune systems react like they’re trying to fight off some sort of infection,” says Virginia Buechner-Maxwell, a professor of veterinary medicine at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. The immune system’s attack on allergens produces inflammation that results in asthma.
Buechner-Maxwell studies an asthma-like illness in horses called heaves. She and other veterinarians think horses are more likely to develop breathing difficulties than other animals because their lungs react more strongly to things that cause inflammation. The same is believed to be true for cats, which also suffer from asthma.
The goal of Buechner-Maxwell’s research is to figure out what goes wrong with the immune response that leads to horses’ breathing troubles. And since heaves in horses looks very similar to asthma in humans, she hopes her findings could help people too.
BREATHING EASIER
AJPHOTO/SCIENCE SOURCE
ASTHMA AID: Inhalers for people spray medicine into the mouth.
While asthma can be life-threatening, avoiding certain allergens and taking medication can help stop most attacks from occurring. Trainers at the Seattle Aquarium monitor the outside air quality for pollutants. That way they know when Mishka might be more likely to have an asthma attack. They’ve also taught Mishka to use a device called an inhaler, which fits over her nose. It sprays out medicine she inhales to prevent and relieve her asthma symptoms.
Mishka’s inhaler is similar to the ones humans use during an asthma attack, except the device for people sprays the medicine into their mouths. There are also inhalers specifically made for horses and cats. No matter the species, veterinarians and doctors all treat asthma with exactly the same medications. Some help to reduce inflammation, while others work by relaxing the muscles around airways to stop them from constricting.
COURTESY OF JOHN MCCORMICK/VIRGINIA TECH
HORSE HEALER: Veterinarian Virginia Buechner-Maxwell assists a horse with a specially made asthma inhaler.
Mishka needs her inhaler daily, so it’s important that she’s motivated to continue using it. “We teach her that placing her nose into the inhaler and taking a breath equals getting a treat,” says Lahner. “She’s picked it up very quickly.”
Thanks to her inhaler, Mishka is again diving and playing. “Inhalers can do the same thing for kids with asthma, allowing them to play sports and do all the things kids without asthma do,” says Lahner.
Lahner believes studying asthma in animals like Mishka will provide more clues about the condition and possibly improve treatments for both animals and humans. Mishka’s story can also inspire people suffering from asthma, she says. “It reminds us that asthma can happen to anyone—even cute baby sea otters.”
CORE QUESTION: What are some things scientists believe might cause asthma?
Text-to-Speech