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Treatment of pollen hay fever and asthma with aerosols of pollen extracts

1955; Elsevier BV; Volume: 26; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0021-8707(55)90060-5

1878-2213

Oscar Swineford, Jesse W. Cumbia, Kenneth W. Berger, Davis C. Lucas,

Vector-borne infectious diseases

Twenty-one patients with fall hay fever, eight of whom also had asthma, were treated with aerosols of pollen extract. The inital concentration of pollen extract varied from 1 :40,000,000 to 1 :8,000. The final concentration varied from 1 :40,000 to 1 :200. A part of the treatment was carried out at home by fifteen patients using a hand-pumped nebulizer. Four patients received aerosol both pre- and coseasonally. Seventeen were given aerosol during the season only. In 1953, six patients received aerosol plus pollen injections before and/or during the season. In 1954, only two patients received injection therapy. In 1953, wheezing followed the aerosol in six cases, in four of these only when bronchitis was present. In 1954, six of the fourteen patients had nasal and four had bronchial reactions. All of these were mild and of short duration. Severe asthma was precipitated once by an aerosol which was too concentrated. Transient asthma was precipitated in two patients who had not recognized asthma previously. Aerosol therapy should be used with particular care in the presence of bronchitis. In 1953, relief was estimated at 90 per cent in four cases, 80+ per cent in two, 50 per cent in one, 25 per cent in two, and no relief in two. In 1954, eleven of fourteen cases reported relief estimated at 65 per cent or better. Relief began by the fourth day in all but one of the cases treated coseasonally by aerosol alone. In contrast to Herxheimer's experiences, coseasonal therapy seemed effective and simple, and no evidence of “induced hypersensitivity” was encountered.