Now that there is a drug to treat HAPE, isn altitude illness a less serious problem ?
No. Nifedipine has received attention because of its reported ability to help symptoms of HAPE. It has proven very useful in preventing HAPE on rapid ascents of Monta Rosa in the Alps and in studies done by Oswald Oelz and Peter Bartsch, among others. The treatment effect does not appear to be as dramatic in HAPE that comes on during slower ascents in the Himalaya. People have died, presumably from HAPE, after taking nifedipine.
