[Alex3917]

This. Claims of a universal antiviral are as old as western medicine itself. Literally the only reason anyone knows what the Hippocratic oath is is because Hippocrates was already famous at the time for promoting elderberry as the universal antiviral.

[abeppu]

My understanding is that the _concept_ of a virus wasn't even established until the late 19th century, because we first needed the germ theory, and then we needed to understand bacteria well enough to have a filter whose pores were known to be smaller than bacteria could pass through, but which some _other_ infection agent could still pass through.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_virology#Discovery

Hippocrates could recommend elderberry for a bunch of ailments, but he didn't have the concept of a "universal antiviral".

[0xDEAFBEAD]

Did Hippocrates know the difference between viral and bacterial infections?