Abstract
IT has been claimed that ‘Viractin’, a complex mixture of substances obtained from the mother liquors of Streptomyces griseus fermentation, reduced the incidence of influenza and other respiratory diseases when it was allowed to evaporate from a gauze pad suspended in the sleeping compartment of patients in a mental hospital1. Investigators are agreed, however, that it has no demonstrable in vitro antiviral activity and evaporation into the air does not protect mice against experimental influenza virus infection2. It has been pointed out that a negative result in experimental animals does not mean that the material is negative in man3. A further trial has therefore been conducted among members of the staff of the Post Office Branch of the Treasury Medical Service.
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References
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Tyrrell, D. A. J., Common Colds and Related Diseases (Arnold, London, 1965).
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GILBERT, P. ‘Viractin’. Nature 215, 893 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/215893a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/215893a0
