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Abstract
IDU which stands at room temperature, although decomposing extremely slowly, loses antiviral activity fairly rapidly as measured by tissue culture assay. Similarly, miniscule amounts of its major degradation product, iodouracil, inhibit the antiviral activity of IDU, and iodouracil appears toxic to the human cornea. This loss of effectiveness of IDU with age, although documented in tissue culture, was not observed in vivo in experimental keratitis in the rabbit. Although the tissue culture results and the finding of minimal toxicity in man support our clinical impression of biologic instability of IDU, the clinical significance of these findings is not yet certain.