CHANCE DISCOVERY

Opotiki News, Volume X, Issue 1050, 28 November 1947, Page 3

CHANCE DISCOVERY

NEW CURE FOR COLDS USE OF BENADRYL Chance discovery of a new—and still experimental—method of treating the common cold was described recently by an American navy doctor. ‘•'Encouraging" results in the treatment of such colds have been achieved with benadryl, a drug originally developed as a treatment fell! <|ert«!in allergic conditions, Captain John M. Brewster reported in the U.S. naval medical bulletin.

In fact, he said, it was while treating an ellergy patient with the drug that he found, to his ‘‘surprise,” that it apparently checked a cold the patient also had. Describing subsequent experimental trials of the drug in 100 eases of common , cold of virus origin, Brewster asserted: ‘‘lt lias proved to be the most satisfying single therapeutic agent for the treatment of the common cold.” But, asserting that benadryl has a soporific (or sleep-inducing) effect. Brewster said that patients using it should be cautioned to avoid driving a car or operating potentially dangerous machinery while taking the drug.”