Abstract
Of the three approaches to specific viral disease control, vaccines have given the greatest reward and continue to promise majar benefits for the future. Surely, the vaccine approach should be used where the complexity of serotypes of agents is sufficiently small to render immunization feasible. Live vaccines or killed vaccines, especially when used with a suitable adjuvant, give promise for highly effective and lasting immunity.
The greatest promise for the interferon mechanism is its broad-spectrum antiviral effect and should be mainly considered for those virus diseases in which the diversity of serotypes defies immunologic control, as in the common cold caused by the rhinovlruses and the systemic and enteric infections caused by the ECHO and Coxsackie viruses. The current application of double-stranded RNA, poly I:C, offers the first hope for a practical application of the interferon mech anism in clinical medicine.
The chemical approach has given little reward to the present but deserves continued concerted effort since here alone, is the appreach for cure of the already infected cell.