Inhalation Technologies for Treating Influenza

I'm looking for some expert engineering comments on technologies for inhalation in treatment of influenza. Eucalyptus oil inhalation is an old standard for our home care of viral infections, using the lowest-tech imaginable: a splash on a tissue placed near your pillow. I recently read up on the medical research literature on natural products for influenza, turning up some promising products which have specific activity against influenza A . I have only read the abstracts – don't have access to the papers themselves – so I'm not entirely clear about the best way – or the necessary tech – to make use of these products for home care. But it makes sense to me that, if there is an inhalation product that is antiviral, it's probably the best strategy for first-line defense against airborne infection. If you could effectively kill/deactivate the virus on your lung surfaces soon after exposure, you would enjoy the benefits of an effective natural immune response, instead of getting sick..

The eucalyptus oil which is available OTC here is a great decongestant IMHO and eucalyptus in various forms is widely accepted on the basis of its clinical use. The product we use is extremely volatile – there is no need of any special tech to disperse it into the air. Experimentally, eucalyptus is anti-inflammatory and has some specific activity against common coinfections of influenza, but assays show that it has no specific activity against influenza virus.

However, I found some very promising research on cinnamon oil inhalation for influenza (arigato) I looked in the supermarket and found and purchased a cinnamon oil product. But on sniffing, I find that it is not nearly so volatile as the eucalyptus. In fact, you might get more benefit from sniffing a warm muffin. I wonder if there is a product out there which is volatile enough to use with our low-tech approach, and having some verified cinnemaldehyde content? Would mixing the cinnamon oil with volatile eucalyptus make the available cinnemaldehyde more available for the low-tech approach? I'm very happy with the "oil on a hankie near you" approach, for our own modest means. It's no extra expense and avoids issues like contact dermatitis (for cinnamon) and greasy spots on your pillow or nasty smells when the volatile element wears off. (personal experience eucalyptus). But I'm not sure that this approach is applicable or best practice for all situations. Are other inhalation techs more effective? Are they necessary for certain products, as listed below?

I found some work done on Cranesbill polyprenols for inhalation (18 articles by the same researchers searching "geranium influenza" at PubMed - (Mnogo blagodarya). The term "polyprenols" is general and my knowledge is too small, without the full articles there's no way for me to understand whether or in what way this research might be applicable or adaptable to low-tech extraction and treatment methods. I did pick up a couple of plants at the nursery (Geranium sanguineum). But haven't done the reading yet to assess how I would produce a useful home product.

Searching Abies influenza at PubMed I found this article in an English language journal and more by the same authors in Russian publications ((Spasibo) on Abies siberica ( (that's a fir tree) polyprenols, using special inhalation technology ("ultrasonic disperser"). I have only the abstracts, don't know how volatile those "polyprenols" are, and don't have a clear idea of the tech used either.

Inhalation of simmering spruce is traditional where I live, although fir is just as common in the environment. Our firs Abies balsamea produce a lot of sweet, quite volatile and incredibly sticky/messy resin. It would be easy for me to obtain raw volatile product – in August the bark of these trees is swollen with blisters full of resin – but I don't know what I would do with it to make it convenient to inhalation use. (I don't have access to distillation equipment – but if this is the only and obvious answer, please say so. If it's really medicinally valuable, maybe the government should do it)

I have used humidifier approaches to inhalation treatment, but I don't find them ideal to our climate and circumstances. The "clammy" effect of humid environments in cold climates is less than ideal: I am more comfortable with the basic precept of keeping the patient dry and warm. Are there more sophisticated technologies that produce better treatments? What would be recommended for people with few technical resources, to take advantage of antiviral inhalation therapies available in their local flora? Your comments will be much appreciated.