Prophylaxis of the acute asthmatic attack in infants and children by the use of symptomatic medication.

680 I T 15 A MAT1ER of common observation than an asthmatic attack in children will often start with what appear to be symptOlTls#{176} of a “COl(I, i.e., coryza or upper respiratory infection. It was early noted by one of us1 that while, in some instances, the onset of the asthmatic attack coincided with the onset of these symptoms, there was more often a variable interval of time, occasionally as long as several days, between the first premonitory symptoms of the “cold” and the beginning of the asthmatic attack. It seemed reasonable to suppose that if the “cold” could be adequately treate(l at its start, the asthmatic attack, which usually followed, might be aborted or perhaps reduced in severity and duration. However, with the medications then available (principally acetylsalicylic acid, atropine, codeine, papaverine hydnochloride, vasoconstricting nose drops, ephednine, expectorants and the sulfonamide drugs) no significant success was obtained in the majority of cases.