Medicine: Snuffnik?

When six Russian women medical scientists touring the U.S. met the press in Washington last week, they offered a nose-wrinkling bit of news. Said Dr. Antonina Shubladze of Moscow's Institute of Virology: the Russians have an effective treatment for Asian influenza, to be taken like snuff. The nonprescription remedy costs one ruble (officially 25¢) for a three-day supply, but only one sniff is needed if the flu victim takes it promptly the day he begins to ache and sniffle. Explained Dr. Shubladze: the influenza virus is inoculated into horses, which are later bled. Serum from their blood is dried and ground into a powder to make the antiflu snuff.

U.S. Public Health Service experts said politely that horse-serum preparations can cause severe reactions, that it is hard to evaluate a treatment for so short-lived a disease as Asian flu. By coincidence, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a strong warning the same day against any false and misleading claims by drug manufacturers "that products of limited benefit can effectively prevent or cure Asian flu ... The public should be on guard."