Evening star., 1948-12-31
By George Beveridue

~
Everyone's hope for q means OF
preventing or curing the common
cold may still be distant dream
But at least its a step closer today
The second major development in
the campaign of the common cold
study unit at the National Institutes
of Health in Bethesda came with the
announcement of a new laboratory
test that quickly Identifies a virus
known to cause colds and indicates
how infectious it is.
Now that scientists definitely can
identify the virus in the laboratory
they can move with more certainty
in looking for a way to combat it.
The first step came at this time
last year, when DR.. Leon T. Atlas
and DR.. Norman H. Topping an
nounced that, for the first time. they
had isolated a strain of cold-causing
virus and had grown it in fertile
chicken eggs.
Volunteers Infected.
They were able to prove the claim
by injecting volunteer inmates at
Lorton Reformatory in Virginia with
the substance. The prisoners prompt
ly got the sniffes.
BY taking washings containing
the virus from the prisoners nasal
passages, the two scientists were
able to grow more of the virus in
other eggs. Then they diluted the
fluid containing virus and inocu-
lated more fertile eggs to learn the
weakest concentration of the fluid
that would cause colds. They
wanted to learn more about the
virus with the hope Of controlling
it, And they wanted to learn what
other agents might cause the dis
ease.
But here the doctors ran into a
road block.
The catch was that every batch
of substance thought to contain the
cold-causing virus had to be tested
in human volunteers to make GER
tain it really was infectious. Lab
oratory animals don't get colds.
Color Test Developed.
DR.. Atlas, who now heads the
common cold study unit at the
Bethesda center, revealed at a press
conference that he and DR.. George
A. Hottie, a research scientist, have
developed a chemical color test that
will show the presence of the virus
and its ability to cause colds. The
announcement marked the end of
the second year Of research by the
unit.
DR.. Atlas, 27-year-old graduate of
the University of Texas Medical
School, stressed that the new test
does not mean the end of human
volunteers in the cold project. But
1t does mean that man no longer
must catch colds in order to prove
that a certain virus can cause the
trouble.
DR.. Topping, who is now associate
director of the Institutes, and DR..
Atlas called the virus strain they
isolated MR-1. The MIR stands for
minor respiratory" The / means
the first strain definitely found to
cause colds.
Under the powerful electronmic-
roscope, samples of egg fluid con-
tanning the virus show "all sorts
of stuff" and great piles of gunk, -
DR.. Atlas said. Which of the "gunk"
is virus or virus-products is one
things the scientists want to know.
May Develop Serum.
These are some of the other points
outlined by DR.. Atlas in which the
new test may greatly spur cold re-
search:
l. Studies of the properties of the
virus. such as its size, shape and
growth.
g. Effect on the virus of such fac
tors as cold, heat, chemicals and
drugs.
8. Whether a serum can be de-
veloped to immunize man against
the virus.
4. Isolation and study of other
viruses that may cause colds.
In the hope of finding a preven-
tive for colds, the scientists intend
to learn whether diluted solutions