Affecting 5 million children in the United States, asthma is the most common chronic childhood illness. Asthmatic children are twice as likely to miss school as children without asthma. Asthma is also responsible for countless days of missed work because parents have to leave the job to care for their asthmatic children. Approximately half of children with asthma are restricted from some form of school activity due to their condition. It's a far-reaching problem that affects virtually everyone, and it imposes a tremendous burden on society.