Abstract
The mechanism whereby acute respiratory infections provoke asthma is not clear. Earlier workers have used influenza vaccine injections to simulate certain effects of respiratory infection while avoiding local bronchial irritation, and have noted that following these injections, patients with extrinsic asthma show an increased bronchial sensitivity to a standard dose of aerosolized methacholine. In a group of inpatients with asthma of known and of unknown origin, the sensitivity to inhaled methacholine one day following the injection of influenza vaccine was not universally increased, but was found in only 11 of 24 individuals. Neither a clinical history of infection preceding asthma nor steroid therapy appeared to be an influencing factor. Mice injected with influenza vaccine were no more sensitive to the lethal effect of methacholine than were the saline-injected control animals.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 187-192 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 1968 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:From the National Jewish Hospital at Denver and the University of Colorado Medical school. Supported in part by a grant from the Hartford Foundation. Presented at the 1968 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Feb. 3 to 7, Boston, Mass. Received for publication May 13, 1968. *Research Associate, Department of Asthma-Allergy, National Jewish Hospital at Denver, and Instructor in Clinical Medicine, University of Colorado Medical School. **Chief, Department of Asthma-Allergy, National Jewish Hospital at Denver, and Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado Medical School. ***Clincial Immunologist, Department of Asthma-Allergy, National Jewish Hospital at Denver, and Assistant Professor of Microbiology, University of Colorado Medical School.
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- General Medicine
