During the 1918 flu pandemicinNew Zealand, inhalation chambers were set up in towns and cities as a means to boost immunity. The public were encouraged to attend these chambers and inhale a zinc sulfate mist, a process that was said to disinfect the lungs and throat and protect against infection. In reality, the inhalation of hot steam could inflame the nasal tissue, potentially making participants more susceptible to infection.[10]
In towns such as Ashburton, New Zealand for example, in order to be eligible to travel by train, people had to present documentation at the train station proving that they had been through the inhalation chamber.[11]
The inhalation chamber which was set up in the old Dunedin Post Office building was described as follows: "It was a small room, relatively airtight, holding 20 or 30 persons, and the air is impregnated with the vapour of zinc sulphate. Each batch remains in the chamber for 10 minutes, and the persons treated are instructed to breathe through the nose at first, and then through the mouth."[12]
^National Research Council; Division on Earth and Life Studies; Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources; Committee on Minerals and Toxic Substances in Diets and Water for Animals (2006). Mineral Tolerance of Animals: Second Revised Edition, 2005. National Academies Press. p. 420. ISBN9780309096546. Archived from the original on 2017-01-16.
^World Health Organization (2019). World Health Organization model list of essential medicines: 21st list 2019. Geneva: World Health Organization. hdl:10665/325771. WHO/MVP/EMP/IAU/2019.06. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
^World Health Organization (2021). World Health Organization model list of essential medicines: 22nd list (2021). Geneva: World Health Organization. hdl:10665/345533. WHO/MHP/HPS/EML/2021.02.
