title: Why not saline nose drops?
abstract: Most respiratory tract infections are of viral origin. The nose is obstructed and bypassed. Dry air is inspired and this paralyses the ciliary mechanism. Body temperature falls and dehydration threatens the infant as water is lost by evaporation. Humidification by saline nose drops prepared and applied by the people themselves, offer a simple, cheap and harmless means of humidification. Teaching and educating the patients and parents to help themselves is much more efficient than prescribing more or less hazardous, expensive and inaccessible drugs. The author has employed this method in mass medicine treatment in poor countries as well as in individual curative medicine of rich countries with striking success. Controlled studies will be needed to prove scientifically that quantitative reduction in pharmaceutical zeal does not imply qualitative loss in medical care.
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D006813:Humidity; D009666:Nose; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride