What is Asthma?

Asthma is a disease of the respiratory system. Your respiratory system is made up of:

• your nose and mouth
• your windpipe (also called your trachea, pronounced tray-key-uh)
• your lungs
• a bunch of air tubes (or airways) that connect your nose and mouth with your lungs
  (these are called bronchi and bronchioles, pronounced bron-kye and bron-key-oles).

People who have asthma sometimes have trouble breathing. We call this an "asthma attack". Lots of people have asthma attacks, even the two girls below. Click on their pictures to hear what they feel like when they have an asthma attack.