TREATMENT OF ASTHMA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19550, 1 February 1927, Page 14

TREATMENT OF ASTHMA.

SUCCESS WITH VACCINES. MARKED PROGRESS MADE. EMINENT DOCTOR'S METHODS. A leg,ding authority in America on the diseases of asthma and hay fever, Dr. George Piness, an eminent Los Angeles physician, arrived at Auckland from Vancouver by the Niagara yesterday. Ho is en route to Dunedin to attend the Australasian Medical Congress, which will .open on Thursday. Dr. Piness is world-famous for the invaluable research and practical courses of treatment evolved at his large and splendidly-equipped laboratories at Los Angeles. Although still in his thirties, he is honoured by the oldest and most learned men of 'the profession and his clinic is visited by nearly tgvery physician and surgeon passing through America. He maintains a large staff of medical and technical assistants, including botanists, bacteriologists,' "environists," and other specialists. • The methods of diagnosis and treatment adopted at' these laboratories have been known 'to science for some 16 years, but it has been left to Dr. Piness to put them into practice on a large scale and bring their benefits to the knowledge of the profession at large. Thousands of people in the United States have fount? relief, if not complete cure, by their adoption, but perfection is not claimed to have been reached yet. Testing tor Irritants. The interesting feature of the treatment practised by Dr. Piness is the injection in the patient of a vaccine or anti-toxin, combined, wherever possible, by the removal of the external irritant usually to be found in the patient's environment. The causes of asthma and hay fever, as well as the associated disease, eczema, have been the subject of thorough research at the laboratories extending over many years, with the result that the various irritants which cause these, diseases have been largely determined. Dr. Piness stated yesterday that in general the cause of asthma and hay fever could be attributed to proteins, regardless of the form in which they entered the respiratory organs. The odours from flowers and other vegetable matter, the emanations from animals, and the air of certain localities were all known' to act as irritants in various cases. Wool and silk were dangerous in some instances and a frequent cause in the Case of women was face powder.' Emanations from some foods used at the - breakfast and dinner table were irritants, but the most common source of trouble was to be found in the odours from animals, such as dogs, cats and other household pets, and horses. The origin of asthma had often been traced, also, to feather beds. The first step in dealing with a new patient at the laboratories is to make a series of tests to ascertain what particular substances he or she is susceptible to. This is often a prolonged process, but upon its completion the experts possess for the first' time definite information to act upon. Tho Injection ol Vaccines. The treatment then becomes ' twofold. An antigan, or vaccine, consisting ot a specimen of the irritant suffered from, is injected, and in a great many, cases this is sufficient to put an end to the trouble and effect a complete cure. Thus the origin of asthma and hay fever has been definitely traced in particular cases to dandruff from horses and an injection of horse dandruff lias been successful in many of these cases in rendering the .patient immune from further suffering. This | method of treatment, Dr. Piness stated, was now 110 longer in the experimental stage, but had been accepted as the correct treatment for these diseases. The second method of attack specialised nt Los Angeles is to effect the removal of tho external irritant. Tho patient is advised what foods to avoid, what animals or plants to escape, and what articles or substances in his environment he shoul<? dispense with. Trained men, many of them possessing medical degrees, are despatched to the patient's place of residence, no matter in what corner of the United States he may reside, and there a botanical survey and inventory is made of the various objects in the neighbourhood from which the irritant might originate. By this means the data obtained from the tests may be confirmed or set aside, and the patient" advised accordingly. Sometimes it may mean a change of residence to avoid, for instance, emanations from the grass in the neighbourhood, and occasionally in America an improvement is effected by a patient transferring residence from one side of the Continent to the other. Dr. Piness was met on his arrival hy Dr. J. Hardie Neil, on behalf of the Auckland division of the British Medical Association. Ho will give a demonstration at the Dunedin Congress of his method of testing patients.