World Asthma Day

Всемирный день борьбы с астмой

Recently, on 6 May 2014, World Asthma Day was celebrated. It takes place every year on the first Tuesday of May. Its aim is to elevate people’s awareness about asthma. 

Nowadays bronchial asthma is one of the most widespread chronic diseases which affect more than 300 million people in the world. In Ukraine in 2013 there were more than 200 thousand patients with bronchial asthma (according to the data by National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine).

There is a great increase in asthma disease with every year, especially in highly developed countries which are ecologically unfavourable. For instance, in China the level of asthma diseases has dramatically increased within last 20 years, and in some cities it affected about 11% of population.

Dr. Qian Qian Sun, a pediatrician from Shandong’s Binzhou Hospital, mentioned in an interview that her patients suffering from asthma who linked it with air pollution, moved to areas located far from plants and factories. Other families could take more extreme measures such as leaving the country.

First of all, children are under risk of getting affected by asthma. The rate of bronchial asthma among children is 4-12% in different countries. 

Asthma cannot be cured completely however it can be controlled. Raising awareness among people, opportune diagnostics, and therapy can help to control asthma and live a normal life. 

Nowadays patients have a big choice of medications. However not always they are effective. That is why alternative treatment and prevention methods of bronchial asthma are becoming more popular; halotherapy being one of them. It is a unique treatment method which is based upon using microclimate of salt rooms.

Salt room (halochamber) is an artificial microclimate chamber which reproduces an atmosphere close to the natural one in a salt mine. 

The course of halotherapy is prescribed individually depending on the stage and severity of a disease. At the beginning exacerbation can be possible (strengthening of coughing, mucus emission, temperature rising). This is quite natural reaction of the body on the change of environment.

So what is the principle of work of salt rooms? The main active component is highly-dispersed aerosol of sodium chloride which is diffused from salt-coated walls and ceiling which creates dry aerosols into the air. Salt aerosol has bactericidal effect on the respiratory tracts. It also causes removal of pathogenic agents, speed-up of mucociliary transport, abatement of bronchial inflammation.

Due to its treatment effect, halotherapy has become popular all over the world, and has been widely used in Europe, Russia, the USA, Canada, Israel, and other countries. Recently building salt rooms has become popular not only in medical organizations, spa-resorts, hotels, but also in private houses.