Asthma was not always viewed as a disease. During the 17th century there were two English physicians, Thomas Willis and Sir John Floyer, who argued and defended their findings about asthma. They believed that asthma was different from other breathing disorders of their time period. It was noted that asthma was a specific form of disordered breathing which had to be treated differently from other forms of breathlessness.
By the late 19th century, physicians believed asthma was a disease which had a specific set of causes, clinical consequences and requirements for treatment, despite the various individual experiences.
Asthma is a word derived from the Greek word aazein, which is means sharp breath. The physician Hippocrates used the term to acknowledge it as a medical condition. He believed that the spasms were symptomatic to people who worked for a living as tailors, anglers, and metal workers.
An Italian physician, Bernardino Ramazzini discovered a correlation between asthma and organic dust. Organic dust comes from chemical compounds which are found in molecules. Some chemical compounds found in the organic dust are carbon, hydrogen, carbonates, and carbon oxides. This discovery took place in the 17th century.
Galen a Greek physician concluded that asthma was caused by a partial or total obstruction of the bronchial tube. His findings came six centuries after Hippocrates noted his findings as a medical condition. Some physicians conducted analysis of conditions in the human body. A Jewish rabbi named Maimonide wrote an analysis which described the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of asthma.