COMMON COLD VIRUS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25081, 13 January 1947, Page 8

COMMON COLD VIRUS

TESTS MADE AT HOSPITAL VOLUNTEERS WANTED IN BRITAIN (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8.30 p.m.) LONDON, Jan 12. Lack of volunteer subjects for tests has handicapped the first comprehensive attempt made in Britain to isolate and cultivate the virus responsible for common colds. The investigation, which is described as a “combined operation” of the Medical Research Council and the Ministry of Health, is taking place at Harvard Hospital, near Salisbury, and has been progressing for nearly a year. “Promising results are being obtained,” says the Salisbury correspondent of “The Times,” “but attempts to grow a responsible virus in culture have not yet succeeded, and it was statpd yesterdav that there was no .hope of photographing the virus with an electronic miroscope until large quantities had been obtained in isolation. “The need was for volunteers—24 every fortnight—between* the ages of 18 and 40. People more than 40 are usually more resistant to colds.” The tests, it was said, involved living in isolation, except for one partner. for 10 days. Dr. D. K. M. Chalmers, head of the hospital, said that they wanted “ordinary people,” and he added, “not the sort who write telling us they are never without a cold or the few telling us that they never get one. We want the average, which, in Britain, is the person who gets colds twice a year.” Meat Schedule Increase.— The New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board advises that the lamb schedule in the South Island will be increased by Ad per lb as from to-day.—(P.A.)