Based on These Data, I Believe

Communications to the Editor bronchodilator therapy but also intravenous steroids which produce long-term (rather than simply transient) improvement. It has even been suggested that, in New Zealand during the recent epidemic of asthma deaths, the use of domiciliary nebulizers may have predisposed to increased mortality in some patients. Based on these data, I believe that with rare exceptions nebulizers are obsolete for domiciliary care in hospital emergency rooms and on the wards, unless patients for some reason cannot have MDIgenerated bronchodilator aerosols administered to them in adequate doses-an unlikely event given the availability ofvalved MDI addon devices like the Aerochamber, useful for adults, children and infants which provide effective therapy of acute, severe asthma (as well as long term prophylactic therapy with bronchodilators, cromolyn and inhaled steroids b0) at low cost.