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Tonya Papanikolas Reporting 61-thousand kids in Utah have asthma and for many of them, the start of a new school year can mean an increase in their symptoms.
Several studies have shown hospitalizations from asthma attacks tend to rise in the late summer and early fall, right when kids are back in school.
There's really a variety of reasons. For some, the fear of doing something new in class or taking tests can set off an asthma attack; but for others, it's just being around a lot of kids again.
Like any kid, 6th grader Gerolyn Carton loves recess, but because she has asthma, she sometimes stays behind when her friends go running.
Gerolyn Carton, 6th grader, Parkview Elementary: "I love to run, I really do, I just can't do it very much."
Gerolyn brings her inhaler with her at school, where she says she uses it at least once a week.
Gerolyn Carton: "I have a little more trouble at school than I do at home, just because I have to run more at school."
Allergy doctors say vigorous activity can trigger asthma, but as kids start school, they're also exposed to more viruses.
Reporter: "When is your asthma the worst?
Gerolyn Carton: "When I have a cold."
Dr. Charles M. Rogers, Allergy Associates of Utah: "The common cold is the major triggering factor for fall-time asthma exacerbations."
Add that to the fact that late summer and early Fall is also pollen season.
Dr. Charles M. Rogers: "There will be weed pollen, sagebrush, ragweed, tumbleweed are quite prevalent."
The American Lung Association says indoors, classrooms can also breed asthma triggers.
Cherissa Wood, American Lung Association: "Molds, pet dander from the classroom pet. Cleaners, the hairsprays, perfumes, that type of thing."
Gerolyn Carton: "Every now and again, the books get dusty."
As kids with asthma learn what their individual triggers are, parents need to make sure they let the school know what their child is facing.
Cherissa Wood: "A lot of times the schools don't even know the kids have asthma."
Gerolyn Carton: "It's so important because if I have a really bad asthma attack, I stop breathing."
Schools say that parents need to sit down and talk with their child's teacher and let them know what their symptoms are.
If the child needs to carry an inhaler at school, they will need to fill out a form letting the state know they plan to be administering medicine on their own.
