HERE are many references to the beneficial T effects of bacterial and viral infections on the progress of malignant disease. As early as 1912, rabies vaccination was thought to modify favorably the course of carcinoma of the cervix. 2 In 1950, thirty patients with melanomatosis were treated with rabies vaccination, eight of whom showed “regressive changes.” 7-13 Deliberately induced infections with such viruses as dengue, Newcastle disease, vaccinia, Egypt 101, IlhCus, and Bunyamwera, have produced only equivocal results. 48 11,129 17918 In animal experiments, specific viruses have been adapted to multiply in and preferen tially destroy certain transplantable tumors. 9.10 In most instances the tumor-inhibiting effect was associated with the development of the specific viral disease in the host.

With the development of modern tissueculture methods, the virologist has been able to identify and study numerous new viruses. The adenoidal-pharyngeal-conjunctival (APC) group of viruses was described in 1953 as agents causing degeneration of adenoid tissue grown in tissue c~ lture. 1~ Subsequently they were shown to cause a variety of minor respiratory and ocular illnesses. Human-volunteer studies showed that live APC viruses produced objective illness when the virus was placed in the conjunctiva, but not when inoculated by other routes. lg This self-limited and comparatively benign conjunctivitis and pharyngitis cIosely resembled pharyngoconjunctival fever. l. 8