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Show Q Viruses i VH HI S. CLARK, M.D. tiy WIIJJAM Director, Medical Department, The National Foundation with Jerry Klein :( ifc II; NSS ::j I y, rsamejllnesJhatJtJs.de8ignedto avertFor.useinYac-- L cine, these disease viruses are first killed or weakened, but they alert your body's defenses just as though they were the wild, robust agents of the disease. Certain body cells answer the alarm of infectious invasion by manufacturing a special kind of molecule called an antibody. Marching to the defense, these antibodies hunt down the disease organisms and, in some dimly understood way, knock them out of action. 7 ". But how does this immunity continue? Once your body has made antibodies against a particular virus, it "remembers" the formula and becomes able to muster defenders faster and in far greater quantity should it ever be attacked again by the same organism. In other words, a vaccine "teaches" your system how to make itself immune to an illness without your needing to contract the disease itself. The "lesson" may last a lifetime, as it usually does with measles or just a matter of days, as with colds. Even a n case of a viral infection doesn't always confer lifelong immunity: King Louis XV of France survived his first bout with smallpox but died of the second! full-blow- What revolutionary advance recently was made in the course of virus research? Live viruses were created in test tubes from inert fragments! Scientists working at the University of California and Utah State University registered this achievement by assembling from chemical materials the virus responsible mosaic disease in the tobacco plant. Dr. Wenfor dell M. Stanley of the University of California, who had been separating and reforming viruses for years, said this e creation of a living form. probably was the first This scientific advance opens the door to intensive study of how viruses are formed and how they make you ill. so-call- ed man-mad- What virus diseases may soon he preventable with vaccines? The road ahead leads toward a number of important new preventives for viral diseases. There is definite progress toward vaccines against chicken pox, German measles, croup, hepatitis, trachoma, and some of the respiratory ailments that we commonly call "colds." Does this mean we9ll have to take more and more "shots"? Not exactly. Many inoculations now given separately may be combined so that we may be safeguarded against a number of diseases simultaneously. At present, infants e inoculations (against diphtheria, polio, tetaget nus, and whooping cough)rIn the future, adults also may take "supervaccines," protecting them against a dozen or more illnesses all at once. One revolutionary proposal is to spray vaccines by airplane over large cities, thus immuniz-in- g thousands through the air they breathe! four-in-on- What new source may be found tor vaccines? In the past, we have had to make vaccines with the actual disease organisms that cause the ailment we are trying to prevent. But research is under way into the possibility of manufacturing preventives ,with drugs extracted' from plants, which probably would be a far simpler process. Some effect against the virus causing cowpox, for instance, has been shown by a substance found in the seeds of the maple tree. Will a separate preventive g always quired lor each viral disease? belre Perhaps not. Some day we may be able to bolster a person's resistance to virus infections generally, just as resistance to bacterial today we can improve his over-a- ll illnesses. In Europe not long ago there was discovered a substance made by the body that seems to reinforce a person's general resistance to viruses. Called "nonspecific" TbecauisrMftdsmmunity against more than just one certain disease virus, this powerful compound is now under keen scrutiny by several pharmaceutical companies. In animals, this material already has shown power to inhibit polio, influenza, and measles. W V .11 - i , , ' ' ::: , - - f , f - : s , " t , , - . " '""'" ' ' II! ', . -- --- -I Why can9t we vaccinate against colds? To some extent, we can. But the difficulty and expense of making cold "shots" available is seldom worth it because, while colds are a nuisance, they aren't a major threat to health. There are dozens and dozens of viruses causing the common cold, and each would need to be contained in any completely effective preventive. You might be successfully immunized against cold virus No. 37 this week and come down with a discomforting case of No. 86 the very next week. N Are all viruses completely different"from one another? No, some resemble one another sufficiently so RflDGD-U- STOMM1? ::: eta eta that the body can be "tricked" into getting them confused. Rerevealed that the viruses search into causing measles, distemper, and rinderpest are so alike that inoculation against or recovery from one of them provides protection against the others as well. At least theoretically, it should be possible one day to" protect against a serious, killing disease by use of a vaccine containing comparatively harmless relations of the dangerous virus. ::: cross-immunizati- on IIow may viruses be used to combat disease? There is a group of viruses called bacteriophages that destroy bacteria rather than normal cells. It may be possible eventually to use some of these viruses against bacteria that cause disease, though this cannot be done yet Another interesting, and perhaps significant, discovery is that some viruses seem to work against other ones, raising the possibility that we may be able to curb harmful ones with varieties that apparently are harmless. You might say that some of the viruses that infect plants are. For instance, some of the colors admired in changes in the tulips are the result of make-up of the plants. Years ago, great fortunes genetic were paid for tulip bulbs that would produce unusual blooms because they were virus infected. viral-produc- er you don't know hov speedy relief can bo! Mi si! Relief is just'a swallow away with because r.t aa it's ;:;a take at 1 jll !! when you liquid-quic- k it Alka-Seltz- v tcontains er medically proven alkalizers !J L. I II. -- J. -- h comfort yourstomaciv and relieve that stuffy, ill feeling. You get Speedy s: too-fu- ll i Alkalizing Action when you drink When you have an upset stomach from overeating, acid indigestion or heartAlka-Seltze- r. burn, take pleasant Alka-Seltz- II! liquid-quic- k er. is ed i tlT Family WetklHlv f,lW r Alka-Seltze- r, virus diseases even after childhood? Are any viruses beneficial? If youVe never tried Alka-Seltz- Why is it important to be vaccinated against Because immunity doesn't always last a lifetime and the disease viruses are always on the prowl somewhere. Smallpox inoculation is more than a century old, for example, but we still don't know how long immunity lasts, and outbreaks of this fatal infection continue to occur regularly in various parts of the world. We are even less sure of how-lon- g vaccines against other illnesses may be relied on. P RCUEF13JU0T A6WAUX3WAVAY - |