Pediatrics & Therapeutics
Open Access

Abstract

Epidemiology of Wheezy Bronchitis (Bronchial Asthma) between 1839-1850 in the Poor Children Hospital of Pest (Budapest)

Endre Cserháti and Györgyi Mezei

In the first half of the 19th century the "Poor Children Hospital of Pest" was the only children's hospital and outpatient department in Hungary. At that time general pediatric hospitals were only in Paris, St. Petersburg, and Vienna. Complete medical histories of 5550 outpatients examined between 1839-1850 in the "Poor Children Hospital of Pest" disclosed a diagnosis of bronchial diseases in 323 children. The therapy was: extractum belladonnae and expectorants containing ammonia. The doctors of the hospital were familiar with the techniques of percussion and auscultation. Only 13 children had bronchitis spasmodica. These data suggest that the obstructive disease in children was an existing but very rare entity in the first half of the 19th century.