Medicine: No Secret Weapon

Aureomycin attacks some virus-like organisms, and some common colds are caused by a virus. So, in a rigidly controlled test, the medical staff of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point tried the golden antibiotic on 154 cadets with colds. At the same time, they gave harmless yellow capsules to 155 other grey-uniformed snifflers. In the New England Journal of Medicine the medics had to admit defeat: aureomycin is just one more thing that doesn’t cure a cold.