Russians Recant

Russian medical researchers raised the hopes of multiple sclerosis* victims in 1956 with claims that they had 1) found the virus that causes the illness, and 2 made a vaccine that is useful in treating it.

First man to prick the bubble of the Soviet claims was George W. A. Dick of Queen's University, Belfast: he charged that the Russian "vaccine" was actually a preparation perilously akin to live rabies virus; as a treatment, it did no good and was potentially dangerous.

Recently, Dr. Dick visited Moscow. Dr. Antonina K. Shubladze (TiME, Nov. 11), co-discoverer of the controversial vaccine, went over his data. Last week readers of the British Medical Journal were treated to the unusual spectacle of a public, nonpolitical recantation by a Russian scientist. Said a letter from Moscow: "It is clearly necessary to reinvestigate . . . this virus, for recent experiments have shown that [it] is similar to rabies virus. As far as treatment ... is concerned, it is not possible to make any further recommendation until reinvestigations have been made." The letter's co-signers: Dick and Shubladze.

* A mysterious, debilitating disease in which scattered patches of nerve tissue (in both brain and spinal cord) degenerate, leading to weakness and ultimately loss of muscle control.

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