Bronchial asthma is characterized as a disease with recurrent, reversible, and generalized airway obstruction and an increased airway responsiveness to nonspecific stimuli. Besides symptoms of airway hyperresponsiveness, episodic asthmatic attacks, and chronic airway obstruction, severe acute asthma, or 'status asthmaticus', is an important and life-threatening manifestation of the disease. This paper gives an overview of the pathophysiology, clinical risk assessment, and treatment of severe acute asthma.