A history of nebulization

Abstract

The simplest and most natural route of drug delivery to the lungs is the inhaled one. From the historical and medical point of view, it was a Greek, Pedanus Discorides, the father of the science of pharmacy, who, during the first century prescribed inhaled fumigation. Pipes were also used to inhale hallucinogenic substances. All shamans knew the psychotropic effects of poisonous plants such as Datura stramonium, especially Red Indians, in their peace calumets; but Indians of Madras used fumigations of Datura ferox to treat asthma. Since 1803, this therapeutic was imported in Great Britain and cigarettes with leaves of datura were used by asthmatics until 1992. In the middle of the nineteenth century, to treat grapevines diseases and in response to the fashion of inhaling thermal waters, spray technology was developed for the effervescent waters at the thermal spas. The onslaught of tuberculosis, similar to AIDS a century later, brought back into practice the inefficacious use of antiseptic aerosol therapy. With the discovery of adrenaline, ephedrine aerosols enjoyed a rebirth. The perfecting of jet nebulizers by R. Tiffeneau, father of FEV1 and M.B. Wright, father of peak-flow, allowed a better practice of inhalotherapy. In 1949, the United States, ultrasonic nebulizers made their first appearance in the form of humidifiers, but doctors were quick to add medications to produce therapeutic aerosols. After 150 years, with the improvement of nebulizer systems and new nebulized medications, the nebulization story is still not concluded.