History and Current Situation of Ozone Therapy

Ozone (O3)is a strong oxidant that is composed of three oxygen atoms, with a half-life of about 20 minutes at room temperature, easy to break down, easy to dissolve inwater. The discovery of ozone can be traced back to more than 200 years ago. In1785, Marum Van (Figure 1) notes that the oxygen will change in the dischargeof the motor, producing a special odor. In 1839 German chemist schonbein(Figure 2) published his dissertation titled "During the Water ElectrolysisAnode Smell of the Stimuli” in Basel. This kind of gas was officially recognized as a "reactive oxygen species", and was named ozone(ozone). At that time, Schonbein was aware that ozone exits in any corner of the world, and it increased with increasing altitude. This great discovery still has a huge impact on our daily life and the protection of the earth's atmosphere. Before and after 1900, Siemens Von invented the super induction tube, which is called the SIEMENS tube. The ozone generating tube is known to be very unstable, difficult to store, and can be obtained from oxygen and used immediately. Ozone is found to be used in water sterilization. Thus, many water treatment plants are born.

 During the first World War, ozone was used for treatment of German soldiers will be used for treatment of ozone gas gangrene infection caused by anaerobic bacteria. In1936, the French doctor P.Aubourg's early advocate of ozone injection blowing the rectum to treat chronic colitis. Payr tried to inject a small quantity of ozone directly into the vein to treat the disease, but that was forbidden due to the danger of air embolism. At that time when medicine was undeveloped,ozone treatment gave people hope. Therefore, there are many explorers paid unremitting efforts for ozone therapy. In 1954, and Steinbarth Werhly tried to collect 5 ~ 10 ml blood filled into a container (ampulla), after brief treatment received ozone (ozone by ultraviolet light generated), then injected into the blood donor muscle to enhance the body resistance and treat a varietyof diseases, which is self blood therapy of prototype. However, in the last century 50s, due to the lack of strict basic and clinical research, the effectiveness of ozone treatment was suspected. The situation is totally different in many countries. Ozone therapy is favored in some developing countries such as Eastern Europe, Cuba, Mexico and South America etc. In the hometown of ozone like Germany and Austria, and Switzerland, people were willing to accept this treatment.  It was barely recognized in Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Canada. However, it was explicitly banned in some states of United States.