Prophylactic control of simian hemorrhagic fever in monkeys by an interferon inducer, polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid-poly-L-lysine.

A nuclease-resistant complex of polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid containing poly-L-lysine and carboxymethylcellulose was used as prophylactic treatment of simian hemorrhagic fever in rhesus monkeys. This infection has proven uniformly fatal to more than 50 monkeys. Treatment 8 hr before infection and repeatedly thereafter completely prevented the development of viremia and death. Untreated animals died before development of antibodies to the virus. None of the treated animals developed antibody to the virus, a fact which suggested that viral growth was essentially completely blocked by the compound.