Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 26, 1993                   TAG: 9311260061
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium

DOES THIS JOB PAY BY THE SNEEZE?

As volunteers for the University of Virginia's cold research program, they agreed to spend the holiday weekend quarantined in a Charlottesville motel, one to a room, spraying custom-made drug treatments into their noses.

Each is being paid $400 to participate in an evaluation of the effectiveness of three types of cold remedies.

"We expect to see some fairly dramatic results, based on our earlier work," said Dr. Jack Gwaltney Jr., director of the program. "If so, we'll continue to pursue this."

The volunteer patients - a mix of university students and local residents - began the experiment early Wednesday, when Gwaltney ushered them by groups into a small laboratory, where he administered a fluid containing a cold-causing virus.

"A lot depends on this study," Gwaltney said. "I can't predict the future, but I really believe we will be able to control colds."

Gwaltney picks up the tab for room and board. Once a day, nurses record individual symptoms.

Maren Herz, 22, a psychology major from Virginia Beach, is one of the program's volunteers.

Like most of the others, Herz said she joined the study for the money. But she is optimistic about the outcome.

"Chances are, I won't get deathly ill," Herz said. "I don't think it will bother me. I'll just talk on the phone a lot." She also brought plenty of homework to the motel, including reading assignments and a psychology paper.

Researchers have identified the microscopic structure of 200 cold-causing viruses. They believe there may be several hundred more. Cold-causing viruses mutate rapidly, and it's possible to be infected twice or more by a variant of the same virus.

Gwaltney's approach is to aggressively treat cold symptoms while simultaneously attempting to kill the virus causing the cold. In this study, he is using interferon, a natural virus-killer found in the body, plus combinations of anti-inflammatories, a decongestant and an antihistamine.

"With colds, there's this utopian notion that there's some kind of simple cure," Gwaltney said. "The virus is very clever."

Results of the study are expected to be made public by the end of next year.