This volume contains the presentations and discussion of the Fifth International
Conference on Asthma and Allergic Diseases (Ischia, Italy, 24-28 May 1997). Asthma
V has a special meaning, because it took place 25 years after the first International
Conference on Asthma (Asthma I) organized by Lawrence M. Lichtenstein and K.
Frank Austen at Arlie House (Virginia) in 1972. For students of allergic diseases, the
Asthma meetings have gained international recognition representing the state-of-the-art
in this field for the excellence of the presentations, the vigour of the discussion, and, not
least, for the appropriateness of the location. This reflects the astuteness of the founders.