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July, 1949         SOUTHERN MEDICINE & SURGERY                209

The Treatment of Poliomyelitis and Other Virus Diseases with Vitamin C

Fred R. Klenner, M.D., Reidsville, North Carolina

IN A PREVIOUS REPORT dealing with the antagonistic properties of ascorbic
acid to the virus of atypical pneumonia, mention was made of the fact that
other types of virus infections had responded favorably to vitamin C. This
paper is to present these findings as well as the results of subsequent
studies on the virus of poliomyelitis, the viruses causing measles, mumps,
chickenpox, herpes zoster, herpes simplex and influenza. Further studies
with the virus of atypical pneumonia will also be discussed.

These observations of the action of ascorbic acid on virus diseases were
made independently of any knowledge of previous studies using vitamin C on
virus pathology, except for the negative report of Sabin after treating
Rhesus monkeys experimentally infected with the poliomyelitis virus. A
review of the literature in preparation of this paper, however, presented
an almost unbelievable record of such studies. The years of labor in animal
experimentation, the cost in human effort and in "grants," and the volumes
written, make it difficult to understand how so many investigators could
have failed in comprehending the one thing that would have given positive
results a decade ago. This one thing was the size of the dose of vitamin C
employed and the frequency of its administration. In all fairness it must
be said that Jungeblut noted on several occasions that he attributed his
failure of results to the possibility that the strength of his injectable
"C" was inadequate. It was he who unequivocally said that ''vitamin C can
truthfully be designated as the antitoxic and antiviral vitamin."

In developing this paper it was felt that, since all virus infections were
more or less akin, only one of this family would be considered in detail.
Poliomyelitis, because of its prevalence and the seriousness of the problem
it presents, was chosen as the disease to be so treated.

Poliomyelitis is in most instances an acute febrile disease of sudden
onset, with symptoms of a systemic infection which either abruptly abort or
develop to hyperesthesia, asymmetry of reflexes and flaccid paralysis or
palsies of muscle groups. It affects individuals of all ages, but mainly
children, as do more common childhood diseases to which class it most
likely belongs. Only slight contact between the carrier of the virus and
the susceptible person suffices in some cases for the transfer of the
causative organism. In this respect and also in that the virus can be
demonstrated in the nasal washings as early as six days before onset of
symptoms, poliomyelitis resembles measles. We never have an epidemic of
poliomyelitis preceding an epidemic of measles; the opposite is frequently
true. This grouping of the virus organisms is too often repeated not .to
carry some significance. For example, atypical pneumonia and influenza are
caused by closely allied viruses; so are chickenpox, herpes zoster and
herpes simplex; so are measles, mumps and poliomyelitis. The incubation
period depends on the mode of entry. In experimental animals. Fraser and
others showed that the average was 6.6 days with intracerebral inoculation
and ten days when the intravenous route was used. Howitt mentions that the
virus reaches the nervous system sooner after intranasal than after
intravenous instillations. Transmission (Brodie, 1934) is by means of
droplets from the mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract. Infection
by means of raw milk, human feces and house flies is highly improbable.

The research of Flexner, Dark and Amoss in 1914 proved that poliomyelitis
is a disease of the entire nervous system, that the sensory ganglia are the
seats of early and profound histological changes. The disease is
significant mainly for the paralysis produced through injury to the motor
neurons of the spinal cord and brain. This is caused by a special affinity
of the virus for a certain type of nerve tissue. Experiments show the
cerebral cortex to be the most unsatisfactory site for growth, that large
amounts of the virus placed in this area are apt to disappear in a short
time. Observations in monkeys and in man show that the anterior horn cells,
particularly those of the lumbar cord, are the most favorable sites for
proliferation of the virus.

In all clinically ill patients the virus eventually travels in the course
of its invasion by several channels. The virus can make a direct assault
through the olfactory bulb, to the brain, medulla and spinal cord. The
virus can enter the blood stream directly or through the lymph channels.
Following damage to the natural protective barrier, the choroid plexus, it
can make its way to the central nervous system, or it can be excreted back
onto the nasal mucous membrane where it will pick up the direct route of
the olfactory bulb.

Clark, Turner and Reynolds (1926, 1927, 1929) concluded that the virus
chiefly travels by the direct route to the brain. Lennette and Hudson (
1935) confirmed this theory and reported their studies indicating that
human infection is chiefly through the nasopharynx. Brodi and others showed
that by section of the olfactory tracts in monkeys infection by the direct
route was prevented. It is of more than mere academic interest that while
the nasal mucosa of the monkey contains branches of the 5th and 7th cranial
nerves and that in addition, since the virus can readily gravitate from the
nasopharynx to the tonsil bed with its nerve supply, if the olfactory
tracts are cut no infection will occur. The most likely explanation is that
the olfactory is non-medullated, the neurons lie in the nasal mucosa and
are thus exposed to the virus. The sciatic nerve (Brodi) will transport the
virus only when it has been injured, suggesting that lack of myelin may
render the healthy olfactory nerve vulnerable to the virus.

The most important of the secondary routes of infection is by the excretion
of the virus from the blood stream onto the nasal mucosa. Lennette and
Hudson (1934, 1935) demonstrated in monkeys that by sectioning the
olfactory tracts and then inoculating by the intravenous route with the
virus of poliomyelitis, they could prevent infection.

This would fit in with the work of Jungeblut and others that the spread of
the virus through the central nervous system is along nerve tracts, rather
than by means of the cerebrospinal fluid, the infection to become manifest
when the first cell group is reached, and by relays of fibers, reaches the
mid-brain. Here numerous fiber-paths run in all directions and the virus is
carried by both motor and sensory axons, causing disease at many levels of
the brain and cord.

Since there is always a period of septicemia in the first few days of
poliomyelitis, it might be that this is the all-important route and that
the virus is grown on a living tissue, the blood, and then is deposited out
on the surface of the olfactory bulb. From this we conclude that the time
to destroy the virus is during this incubation period which varies more
with virulence and power of multiplication than with size of initial dose.

The second flanking maneuver of importance is through the choroid plexus.
It is the function of the choroid plexus and the pial lymphatic vessels to
exclude the virus present in the blood from the nervous system. Once these
protective structures are injured, however, the exclusion ceases and
infection can follow readily. Changes in the structure or function of the
meningeal choroid plexus complex, too slight to be detected in the
cerebrospinal fluid or as morphological alterations, materially diminish
its protective power. Flexner and Amoss injected large doses of the virus
intravenously, then tested the cerebrospinal fluid and found no virus after
the first 48 hours; virus in small amounts at the end of 72 hours; after 96
hours evidence of free access to this system. The virus was still present
19 days later when paralysis was beginning.

Poliomyelitis in man is always more severe if exercise is taken at time of
the infection. Here one must consider the factor of filtration of the virus
through the choroid plexus as being increased due to the elevation of the
vascular bed pressure. Also, that, by the acceleration of the blood flow
caused by greater oxygen demand in physical effort, a marked increase in
the percentage of the virus deposited on the nasal mucosa would result.

We must agree with Fairbrother and Hurst that too little consideration has
been given to the pathology of the nervous system and in particular to the
drainage of the tissue fluids. These men confirmed the earlier work of
Schroder, who stressed that the normal flow of these fluids is along the
perivascular spaces from the center of the cord outward, and that any
inflammatory exudate occupying these spaces must be swept into the pial
meshes; further that meningeal infiltration may seem nothing more than a
drainage of cells from the interior of the cord. Fairbrother and Hurst
found that meningeal infiltration does not occur in monkeys until the
perivascular infiltration beginning in the deeper vessels reaches the surface.

The presence of the filterable microorganism or virus of poliomyelitis upon
the mucous membrane of the nose and throat does not necessarily lead to
infection. It may give rise to a class of healthy carriers who are
themselves immune. Amoss and Taylor found a secretion of the mucous
membrane capable of neutralizing or inactivating the virus, this property
absent altogether from the secretions of some persons, in those of others
present at one time and not at another. It is probable that in actively
immune animals the passage of the neutralizing substance from the blood
into the cerebrospinal fluid would continue as long as the inflammation
present in the meninges rendered the structures easily permeable to the
protein constituents of the blood. This secretion X could not have the
properties of a true antibody. The virus of poliomyelitis is intracellular
from the time it invades the terminal cells of the olfactory system until
the end of the disease, except when crossing the synaptic junctions between
cells. This explains why the virus cannot be neutralized by antibodies in
the serum. Further protection is afforded the virus by the functional
barrier between the circulating blood and the central nervous system.

Since immunization against poliomyelitis comparable to that against other
bacterial diseases is still a matter of the future, it suggested itself
that some antibiotic could be found that would destroy this scourge while
in the phase of blood-stream invasion. Sabin's negative report on the value
of ascorbic acid on the poliomyelitis virus stopped Jungeblut's work, but
we were cognizant of its dramatic effect on the virus causing atypical
pneumonia, and so kept up hope. These results were so consistently positive
that we did not hesitate to try its effectiveness against all type of virus
infections. The frequent administration of massive doses of vitamin C was
so encouraging in the early days of the 1948 epidemic of poliomyelitis that
a review of the literature was begun. Heaslip, in the Australian Journal of
Experimental Biology & Medicine reported a mean urinary output of vitamin C
under a load test of 19.9 per cent in 60 poliomyelitis cases, as contrasted
with a mean figure of 44.3 per cent in 45 healthy contacts. This was
suggestive of some relationship between the degree of vitamin C saturation
and the infectious and non-infectious state. He was also able to show a
correlation between the severity of the attack and the level of urinary
excretion of the vitamin. This would indicate that a deficiency of vitamin
C in the diet predisposed to infection and to severity of attack. Sabin
reported no appreciable difference in infectivity of poliomyelitis in
monkeys with much or no vitamin C in the diet. Many others, however, have
reported that a "deficient vitamin C nutrition increases susceptibility to
infection," and many others that animals dying from the effects of the
poliomyelitis virus show a reduction of vitamin C in the tissues. Heaslip
found a definite relationship between the severity of the infection and the
level of vitamin C nutrition. It is consistent with accepted physiological
action of vitamin C to expect and anti-edema effect in any given affected
area. It is worthy of note that bacterial toxins can cause losses of from
50 to 85 per cent of the vitamin C normally contained in the adrenals.
Jungeblut's investigations seemed to justify the conclusion that vitamin C
was the "antibiotic" that would destroy the virus organism. He stated that
the prophylactic and therapeutic administration of synthetic or natural
vitamin C had given evidence of having distinct therapeutic properties in
experimental poliomyelitis, and that the proper injection dose was directly
proportional to the speed of the infection and the stage at which the
process had arrived. Jungeblut stated in 1937 that the parental
administration of natural vitamin C during its incubation period of
poliomyelitis in monkeys is always followed by a distinct change in the
severity of the disease; that after the fifth day of the disease distinctly
larger doses are required. He realized, at that early date, that for a fast
progressing infection such as results from the R. M. V. strain, very large
doses-400 mg. crystalline C maximum in a 24-hour period-of vitamin C would
be required; for the Aycock virus with its slower infection potential small
amounts of the vitamin would suffice. Even with almost infinitesimal
amounts-100 mg. ascorbic acid for each 24-hour period-he was able to
demonstrate that the non-paralytic survivors in one series was six times as
great as in the controls. In our work we shall speak of six, ten and 20
thousand mg. in a similar time period.

Harde et al. reported that diphtheria toxin is inactivated by vitamin C in
vitro and to a lesser extent in vivo. I have confirmed this finding, indeed
extended it. Diphtheria can be cured in man by the administration of
massive frequent doses of hexuronic acid (vitamin C) given intravenously
and/or intramuscularly. To the synthetic drug, by mouth, there is little
response, even when 1000 to 2000 mg. is used every two hours. This cure in
diphtheria is brought about in half the time required to remove the
membrane and give negative smears by antitoxin. This membrane is removed by
lysis when "C" is given, rather than by sloughing as results with the use
of the antitoxin. An advantage of this form of therapy is that the danger
of serum reaction is eliminated. The only disadvantage of the ascorbic acid
therapy is the inconvenience of the multiple injections. This concept of
the action of vitamin C against certain toxins has led to treating other
diseases producing exotoxins. For years it has been our knowledge that
vitamin C in 500 to 1000 mg. doses injected I. M. would cure bacillary
dysentery of the Shiga type. Children having 10 to 15 bloody stools per day
have cleared in 48 hours under this schedule while at the same time
reverting to normal feedings. This dual action of vitamin C against certain
toxins and the virus organism becomes more intelligible with the work of
Kligler, Warburg and others who believed that the detoxification effected
by hexuronic acid is brought about by a direct combination of the vitamin
with the toxin or virus, this followed by oxidation of the new compound
which destroys both the virus or toxin and the vitamin. Borsook et al.
decided that the main chemical action of ascorbic acid is as a powerful
reducing agent, and the virus causing poliomyelitis is known to be
susceptible to the oxidizing action of various agents. It is in point here
to remark that vitamin C is an integral part of the oxidation-reduction
system of the body, thus playing a definite part in natural resistance.

In the poliomyelitis epidemic in North Carolina in 1948, 60 cases of this
disease came under our care. These patients presented all or almost all of
these signs and symptoms: Fever of 101 to 104.6°, headache, pain at the
back of the eyes, conjunctivitis, scarlet throat; pain between the
shoulders, the back of the neck, one or more extremity, the lumbar back;
nausea, vomiting and constipation. In I5 of these cases the diagnosis was
confirmed by lumbar puncture; the cell count ranging from 33 to 125. Eight
had been in contact with a proven case; two of this group received spinal
taps. Examination of the spinal fluid was not carried out in others for the
reasons: (1) Flexner and Amoss had warned that "simple lumbar puncture
attended with even very slight hemorrhage opens the way for the passage of
the virus from the blood into the central nervous system and thus promotes
infection." (2) A patient presenting all or almost all of the above signs
and symptoms during an epidemic of poliomyelitis must be considered
infected with this virus. (3) Routine lumbar puncture would have made it
obligatory to report each case as diagnosed to the health authorities. This
would have deprived myself of valuable clinical material and the patients
of most valuable therapy, since they would have been removed to a receiving
center in a nearby town.

The treatment employed was vitamin C in massive doses. It was given like
any other antibiotic every two to four hours. The initial dose was 1000 to
2000 mg., depending on age. Children up to four years received the
injections intramuscularly. Since laboratory facilitates for whole blood
and urine determinations of the concentration of vitamin C were not
available, the temperature curve was adopted as the guide for additional
medication. The rectal temperature was recorded every two hours. No
temperature response after the second hour was taken to indicate the second
1000 or 2000 mg. If there was a drop in fever after two hours, two more
hours was allowed before the second dose. This schedule was followed for 24
hours. After this time the fever was consistently down, so the drug was
given 1000 to 2000 mg. every six hours for the next 48 hours. All patients
were clinically well after 72 hours. After three patients had a relapse the
drug was continued for at least 48 hours longer-1000 to 2000 mg. every
eight to 12 hours. Where spinal taps were performed, it was the rule to
find a reversion of the fluid to normal after the second day of treatment.

For patients treated in the home the dose schedule was 2000 mg. by needle
every six hours, supplemented by 1000 to 2000 mg. every two hours by mouth.
The tablet was crushed and dissolved in fruit juice. All of the natural "C"
in fruit juice is taken up by the body; this made us expect catalytic
action from this medium. Ruin, 20 mg., was used with vitamin C by mouth in
a few cases, instead of the fruit juice. Hawley and others have shown that
vitamin C taken by mouth will show its peak of excretion in the urine in
from four to six hours. Intravenous administration produces this peak in
from one to three hours. By this route however, the concentration in the
blood is raised so suddenly that a transitory overflow into the urine
results before the tissues are saturated. Some authorities suggest that the
subcutaneous method is the most conservative in terms of vitamin C loss but
this factor is overwhelmingly neutralized by the factor of pain inflicted.

Two patients in this series of 60 regurgitated fluid through the nose. This
was interpreted as representing the dangerous bulbar type. For a patient in
this category postural drainage, oxygen administration, in some cases
tracheotomy, needs to be instituted, until the vitamin C has had sufficient
time to work-in our experience 36 hours. Failure to recognize this factor
might sacrifice the chance of recovery. With these precautions taken, every
patient of this series recovered uneventfully within three to five days.

In the treatment of other types of virus infections the same "fluid" dose
schedule was adopted. In herpes zoster 2000 to 3000 mg. of vitamin C was
given every 12 hours, this supplemented by 3 000 mg. in fruit juice by
mouth every two hours. Eight cases were treated in this series, all of
adults. Seven experienced cessation of pain within two hours of the first
injection and remained so without the use of any other analgesic
medication. Seven of these cases showed drying of the vesicles within 24
hours and were clear of lesions within 72 hours. They received from five to
seven injections. One patient; a diabetic, stated that she was always
conscious of an uncomfortable feeling, but that it was not an actual pain.
Although nine-tenths of the vesicles cleared in the usual 72-hour period,
she was given 14 injections, the last seven of only 1000 mg. This extra
therapy was given because of a small ulceration, an inch in diameter,
secondarily infected by rupture of the vesicles by a corset stave prior to
the first visit. Vitamin C apparently had no effect on this lesion, which
was healed in two weeks under compound tincture of benzoin locally and
penicillin and sulfadiazine by mouth. (The patient objected to taking
penicillin by needle.) One of the patients, a man of 65, came to the office
doubled up with abdominal pain and with a history of having taken opiates
for the preceding 36 hours. He gave the impression of having an acute
surgical condition. A massive array of vesicles extended from the dorsal
nerve roots to the umbilicus, a hand's breadth wide. He was given 3000 mg.
of vitamin C intravenously and directed to return to the office in four to
five hours. It was difficult to convince him that his abdominal pain was
the result of his having "shingles." He returned in four hours completely
free of pain. He was given an additional 2000 mg. of vitamin C, and
following the schedule given above he recovered completely in three days.

In herpes simplex it is important to continue the treatment for at least 72
hours. We have seen "fever blisters" that appeared healed after two
injections recur when therapy was discontinued after 24 hours. Vitamin C in
a strength of 1000 mg. per 10 c.c. of buffered solution gave no response
when applied locally. This was true no matter how often the applications
were made. In several cases 10 mg. of riboflavin by mouth t.i.d. in
conjunction with the vitamin C injections appeared to cause faster healing.

Chickenpox gave equally good response, the vesicles responding in the same
manner as did those of herpes. These vesicles were crusted after the first
24 hours, and the patient well in three to four cays. We interpreted this
similarity of response in these three diseases to suggest that the viruses
responsible were closely related to one another.

Many cases of influenza were treated with vitamin C. The size of the dose
and the number of Injections required were in direct proportion to the
fever curve and to the duration of the illness. Forcing of fruit juice was
always recommended, because of the frequency and ease of reinfection during
certain periods of the year.

The response of virus encephalitis to ascorbic acid therapy was dramatic.
Six cases of virus encephalitis were treated and cured with vitamin C
injections. Two cases were associated with virus pneumonia; one followed
chickenpox, one mumps, one measles and one a combination of measles and
mumps. In the case that followed the measles-mumps complex, definite
evidence was found to confirm the belief that massive, frequent injections
are necessary in treating virus infections with vitamin C. This lad of
eight years was first seen with a temperature of 104°. He was lethargic,
very irritable when molested. His mother said he had gradually developed
his present clinical picture over the preceding four or five days. His
first symptom was anorexia which became complete 36 hours before his first
examination. He next complained of a generalized headache, later be became
stuporous. Although very athletic and active, he voluntarily took to his
bed. He was given 2000 mg. of vitamin C intravenously and allowed to return
home because there were no available hospital accommodations. His mother
was asked to make an hourly memorandum of his conduct until his visit set
for the following day. Seen 18 hours after the initial injection of vitamin
C, the memorandum revealed a quick response to the antibiotic-after two
hours he asked for food and ate a hearty supper, then played about the
house as usual and then, for .several hours, he appeared to have completely
recovered. Six hours following the initial injection, he began to revert to
the condition of his first visit. When seen the second time temperature was
101.6°, he was sleepy but he would respond to questions. The rude
irritability shown prior to the first injection was strikingly absent. A
second injection of 2000 mg. vitamin C was given intravenously and 1000 mg.
of "C" prescribed every two hours by mouth. The next day he was fever and
symptom-free. As a precautionary measure a third 2000 mg. was given with
direction to continue the drug by mouth for at least 48 hours. He has
remained well since. A lad of 12 years had generalized headache a week
after having mumps, this followed by malaise, and in 12 hours a lethargic
state and a fever of 105°. Admitted to hospital he was given 2000 mg. of
vitamin C then, and 1000 mg. every two hours. Following the third injection
he was sitting up in bed, laughing, talking, begging for food and
completely without pain. He was discharged 24 hours following admission
clinically well. Since relapses do occur if the drug is discontinued too
soon, he was given 2000 mg. of vitamin C every 12 hours for two additional
days.

The use of vitamin C in measles proved to be a medical curiosity. During an
epidemic vitamin C was used prophylactically and all those who received as
much as 1000 mg. every six hours, by vein or muscle, were protected from
the virus. Given by mouth, 1000 mg. in fruit juice every two hours was not
protective unless it was given around the clock. It was further found that
1000 mg. by mouth, four to six times each day, would modify the attack;
with the appearance of Koplik's spots and fever, if the administration was
increased to 12 doses each 24 hours, all signs and symptoms would disappear
in 48 hours. If the drug was discontinued or reduced to three or four doses
each 24 hours following the disappearance of Koplik's spots, within another
48-hour period the fever, the conjunctivitis and Koplik's spots would be back.

It was our privilege to observe this picture over and over in two little
volunteer girls for 30 days. These "research helpers" were my own little
daughters. The measles virus was eventually destroyed in this instance by
continuing 12,000 mg. by mouth each 24 hours for four days. We interpreted
this result to indicate that on withdrawing the drug with the cessation of
signs and symptoms, a small quantity of the virus remained, which after
another incubation period produced anew the first stage of measles; when
the drug was continued beyond the clearing stage the virus was destroyed in
toto. No case of post-measles bronchopneumonia was seen. The
"measles-cough" of measles bronchitis was over with after three or four
1000 mg. injections of "C" at 6-hour intervals. This was true even when
other medications well above the calculated dose range for cough had had no
effect. Whenever a patient presented a mixed-virus infection, such as
receding mumps and developing measles, it was found that double the
calculated dose of vitamin C was necessary to obtain the usual results.

Of mumps, 33 cases were treated with ascorbic acid. When vitamin C was
given at the peak of the infection the fever was gone within 24 hours, the
pain within 36 hours, the swelling in 48 to 72 hours. Two cases were
complicated with orchitis. A young man of 23 years developed bilateral
orchitis one Friday morning, by seven o'clock that night he was in severe
pain, had a fever of 105" and was nursing testicles the size of tennis
balls. Vitamin C was started at this time-1000 mg. every two hours,
intravenously. The pain began to subside following the first injection and
ceased in 12 hours. There was no fever after 36 hours. The patient was out
of bed feeling his old self after 60 hours. He had received 25,000 mg. of
"C" in this 60-hour period. An experiment involving three cousins: One, a
boy of seven, had the old routine of bed rest, aspirin, and warm camphor
oil applications and iodex to the swollen glands. This child had a rough
time for a week. A second boy, aged 11, was allowed to develop mumps to the
point of maximum swelling without any therapy, then given vitamin C, 1000
mg. intramuscularly, every two to four hours. This lad was entirely well in
48 hours. To the third patient, a girl of 9, vitamin C was given on the up
curve when the swellings were 60 per cent of the expected, and the
temperature recorded at 102.3°. The dose was 1000 mg. of vitamin C given
intravenously every four hours. This child was well and remained so from
the third day of treatment.

Further studies on virus pneumonia showed that the clinical response was
better when vitamin C was given to these patients according to the dose
schedule outlined for poliomyelitis. Where pneumonitis was demonstrated,
the clearing of the chest film was parallel with the clinical recovery. In
cases of consolidation of entire lobes the x-ray clearing lagged days
behind the clinical response. In these cases 1000 mg. of "C" should be
given every 12 hours for at least a week after the patient is apparently
well. There was no change in the results as given in a previous paper; the
patients were well in the third day of treatment.

In using vitamin C as an antibiotic no factor of toxicity need be
considered. To confirm this observation 200 consecutive hospital patients
were given ascorbic acid, 500 to 1000 mg. every four to six hours, for five
to ten days. One volunteer received 100,000 mg. in a 12-day period. It must
be remembered that 90 per cent of these patients did not have a virus
infection to assist in destroying the vitamin. In no instance did
examination of the blood or urine indicate any toxic reaction, and at no
time were there any clinical manifestations of a reaction to the drug. When
vitamin C was given by mouth one per cent of these patients vomited shortly
after taking the drug. In half of these cases the vomiting was controlled
by increasing the carbohydrate content of the mixture. This reaction was
not interpreted as representing a toxic manifestation; rather it was
thought to be due to a hypersensitive gastric mucosa. The dose was reduced
from 1000 to 100 mg. in young children showing this complex; vomiting
occurred as before. However, in these same patients administration of
massive, frequent doses of vitamin C by needle affected a cure of the
infection without causing vomiting.

From a review of the literature one can safely state that in all instances
of experimental work with ascorbic acid on the virus organism the amount of
virus used was beyond the range of the administered dose of this vitamin.
No one would expect to relieve kidney colic with a five-grain aspirin
tablet; by the same logic we cannot hope to destroy the virus organism with
doses of vitamin C of 10 to 400 mg. The results which we have reported in
virus diseases using vitamin C as the antibiotic may seem fantastic. These
results, however, are no different from the results we see when
administering the sulfa, or the mold-derived drugs against many other kinds
of infections. In these latter instances we expect and usually get 48- to
72-hour cures; it is laying no claim to miracle-working then, when we say
that many virus infections can be cleared within a similar time limit.


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