Pharmaxis has recently circulated ‘IOC Consensus Statement on Asthma in Elite Athletes’ in which it declared Aridol (mannitol) to get an approval as test by the “International Olympic Committee’s independent Medical Commission”. These athletes are competing in the Beijing Olympics.The IOC Medical Commission focused on finding whether the elite athletes were diagnosed correctly and they were administered the correct therapy for asthma. The commission didn’t test the efficacy of the treatments known as beta-2 agonists however it recommended a bronchial provocation examination like Aridol to diagnose asthma in Olympians.

There has been an increase in the occurrence of respiratory symptoms like recurrent breathlessness, cough, wheezing, chest tightness and excessive mucous production in the athletes, which may suggest prevalence of asthma. However these symptoms could not be singly relied upon to make a diagnosis of asthma in an athlete. Moreover, there is a possibility of the clinical examination to be normal so certain objective tests like spirometry are required to confirm the diagnosis.

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