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ABSTRACT: Asthma is a term that has been used for centuries to describe states of breathlessness associated with wheezing. However, there are well‐known difficulties in defining asthma, as it encompasses such a broad clinical spectrum ranging from mild, rapidly reversible, broncho‐spasm to severe, intractable, chronic airflow obstruction. Moreover, reversibility of airflow obstruction, a cardinal feature used to identify asthma, may be demonstrated only with difficulty in certain cases, such as severe, acute asthma attacks, which necessitate several days of treatment before any reversibility can be achieved.

The simple procedures of sputum homogenization and incubation in a carbon dioxide enriched atmosphere markedly increased the isolation rates of sputum pathogens from 53 purulent specimens. Without these procedures, Haemophilus influenzae was recognized in 25% and pneumococci in 34% of specimens, whereas the yield increased to 66% and 49% respectively when the specimens were processed in this manner.