It’s been a while since I’ve heard about Rubeola Virus Immunomodulator (RVI). It’s a product that’s distributed by Eudaemonic Products – just so you can see for yourself, you can find it on their website at http://www.eudaemonic.net/products.htm, along with testimonials that attest to its wonderfulness.
Now, I don’t want to go too far off on a tangent about the limits of testimonials when it comes to scientific information (yet – I guess it’s something else I could write about), but testimonials are a lot better suited for selling shampoos, hand creams, and underwear than they are for selling medicines. There’s a lot of reasons why therapies may seem to work even when they don’t – in fact, I’ve got a two part article up on the subject – CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE and CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO.
To me, the thing that’s curious about your question is that I don’t even think that the company that sells the stuff recommends the product for navicular syndrome. They talk about it to treat muscle pain of unknown origin. Interestingly, the company is about the only group that has ever been able to hold a straight face while suggesting that muscle soreness in horses is caused by a rubeola virus – one of the viruses that causes measles in people – go figure.
I hate to use the word quack in public. It’s too polarizing, and it tends to invite lawsuits from companies who have deep pockets. But I do feel rather confident in telling you that there’s no scientific support whatsoever for the use of the product in horses with navicular syndrome, or, really, even what it’s supposed to be used for.
That said, and on an unrelated note, I do not mind publishing pictures of ducks. Here’s a nice one. I’m fairly confident he doesn’t have rubeola virus, either.
