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At risk: 4 million students with asthma: Quick access to rescue inhalers critical for schoolchildren

Already alarmed by soaring asthma rates in U.S. children, pediatricians and health researchers are worried many of the nation's 4 million students with asthma could find it difficult to obtain and properly use their rescue inhalers at school during the coming year.

I think it's important that asthmatic children have easy access to their inhalers," said Michael Welch, M.D., FAAP, pointing out that about 100 children die needlessly each year from the chronic disorder.

"All too often in California, we're seeing situations in which an asthmatic child's inhaler is locked up in a drawer in the school office — and the key to that drawer is with the vice principal, who isn't even in the building that day," said Dr. Welch, who serves on the AAP Section on Allergy and Immunology.