The invention relates to a biocidal agent and in particular to an agent which is antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral. To date, the agent of the invention is being used to treat a wide variety of diseases in animais and humans - both internally and externally, in a localised or systemic manner. However, it is thought that the invention has particular application in the treatment of viruses and particularly, but not exciusiveiy, equine viruses. This is mainly because there are few effective anti-viral agents on the market especially the equine market and there is therefore a need to provide a suitable anti-viral product.

The advantages of providing a suitable equine anti-viral product are apparent when one considers that a racehorse can cost millions of pounds and once infected with a virus it is temporarily unable to compete and thus bring about any return for money invested in the horse. At worst, viral infections can result in a fatality.

It is also of note that the agent in accordance with the invention is suitable for treating human viral conditions such as Herpes.

Further, the agent in accordance with the invention has also been used for treating a wide variety of conditions of a non-viral nature, for example, cuts, ulcers or burns.

The agent of the invention is a natural remedy in that it comprises the combination of known and harmless products, which products have either been consumed by or used by man for centuries. It was found that a combination of these products produced an agent which had unexpected anti-viral properties. Further, the agent also had unexpected efficacy when treating non-viral ailments. In this latter instance, it is thought that the selection of the components of the agent produced an agent having enhanced or synergistic effects thus providing a single agent which is particularly successful for treating non-viral ailments.

The agent in accordance with the invention is a biocidal agent which comprises a mixture of an alkaline substance and a botanical extract from the Cruciferous herbs commonly known as mustard seed producing plants.

In an ideal form of the invention the agent further comprises a sweetening substance which ideally is honey.

The agent of the invention thus comprises at least two and ideally three components. Each of these components are known to man and indeed are known to have beneficial medicinal properties. These agents and their properties will now be reviewed.

The preferred alkaline substance of the invention is a bismuth salt and preferably bismuth carbonate, ideally in its purest form such as bismuth carbonate BPpure grade.

Bismuth is one of the heavy metals whose carbonate, oxide, subnitrate, salicylate and oxychloride are essential ingredients in many pharmaceutical compounds. Salts of bismuth are reputed to form a protective covering over any ulcerated areas. The carbonate, subcarbonate, subnitrate, salicylate and the subgaliate are still employed for the treatment of ulcers and other gastro-intestinal disorders, such as

diarrhoea and vomiting. As astringents they are sometimes used for weeping sores on the surface of the skin, often mixed with starch and oxide of zinc.

Bismuth belongs to the metals which form only basic carbonates. (BiO)2Cθ3H2θ is a substance with a weak antacid effect reacting slowly with the hydrochloric acid of the stomach and inhibiting the secretion by coating the mucous membrane. Like the carbonates of magnesium and calcium it is employed in gastric or duodenal ulcer, also in cases of diarrhoea. Incorporated in ointments and dusting powders it has a protective and sedative effect on inflamed skin.

There is no record disclosing the use of bismuth and in particular bismuth carbonate to treat viral diseases.

The second agent of the invention is an extract from the Cruciferous herbs commonly known as mustard seed producing plants.

The pulverised ripe seeds of Cruciferous herbs yield a yellowish powder called mustard which is used for the condiment mustard or medicinal puφoses. Further, the leaves are sometimes used as greens or pot herbs.

In medicine, mustard plasters which contain pulverised mustard seeds mixed with varying amounts of flour (to control the irritating qualities) and warm water (to make a smooth paste) have long been used as an irritant to the skin, to produce a local superficial inflammation of transitory nature. Internally, it is sometimes used as an emetic for dogs when other and more suitable substances are not to hand.

A salient characteristic of the mustard plants is that they contain a particular glycoside. The term glycoside is applied to a large number of substances found mainly in plants and result from secondary metabolism; usually they have a bitter taste. Their exact biological function is not

established but it is probable that their formation provides the plant with a means of storing, in a harmless form, toxic and physiologically active materials which may be liberated by enzymes, when required. Most of the natural glycosides have their names from the botanical sources.

A giycoside is formed when sugars combine or react with non- carbohydrates. While compounds consisting of sugars only, are generally referred to as disaccharides, trisaccharides, etc, the word giycoside is restricted to compounds in which one or more sugars (the glycone component) are combined with a non-sugar (the aglycon). The aglycons are widely diversified in chemical structure but all contain a hydroxyl (OH) group through which they combine with the sugar.

When hydrolysed (split by the action of aqueous solutions of acids or enzymes) the glycosides separate into the glycone and agiycone components. Each glycoside usually has a compatible enzyme which, however, is situated in cells elsewhere in the plant. Crushing or ingesting the plant part breaks up the ceils, the enzyme is brought into contact with the giycoside, hydrolysis occurs and the agiycone is activated.

Glycosides include some of the most effective plant drugs, and some of the plants containing them are among the most toxic known. The therapeutically active constituent is the agiycone, which can selectively affect a particular organ in the human body. As a rule the sugars have no therapeutic effect but they increase the solubility of the glycoside and its absorption in the body and can facilitate its transport to a specific organ.

Glucosinolates are glycosides with the same general formula (including that the sulphur-linked sugar is always glucose) and are in the in vivo precursors of the mustard oils. Although themselves odourless and tasteless, glucosinolates are hydrolysed to pungently odoured and tasting compounds (isothiocyanates), such as when the plant is damaged or

when mustard seeds are ground. Also during extraction or isolation the obnoxious flavours are obvious.

About 75 glucosinolates of known structure have been isolated from higher plants, the majority being aliphatic (open-chain) derivatives (eg sinigrin) with the remainder having benzyl substitutes (eg sinapine) of one sort or another. The Cruciferae family is particularly rich in these compounds, especially the flowers and seeds.

The glucosinolates are always accompanied by the appropriate hydrolytic enzyme, a thioglucosidase known as myronsinase present in certain ceils.

When the enzyme is activated, it catalyses the hydrolysis of the glycoside into its sugar component (glucose) and its agiycone (an allyl isothiocyanate - the mustard oil).

S — lucose / myrosinase

R— C ► R_ N= C= s + glucose + HSO

N o SO " isothiocyanate glucosinolate

Mustard Oil (Allyl Isothiocyanate) (or: essential/volatile oil of mustard) is a general term applied to the esters of isothiocyanic acid. Allyl isothiocyanates, C3H5.N:C:S, are colourless liquids sparingly soluble in water and boiling around 152°C. A few examples of glucosinolates are sinigrin, sinalbin and sinapine.

Sinigrin: R in the glucosinolate is CH ^s== CH — CH-

2 S —glucose

(A ino acid precursor: serine) R— C

Sinalbiπ: R in the glucosinolate is OH < j> CH, * N— O — SO 3

(Amino acid precursor, tyrosine) glucosinola _t e

Sinapine: R in the glucosinolate is p — HO— C ₆ H ₄

Other examples of glucosinolates include gluconapan, glucobrassicanapin, progoitrin, glucotropaeoiin, gluconasturtin, glucobrassicin and four hydroxigiucobrassicin.

Isothiocyanates are antibacterial, antifungal and insecticidal and thus it would seem that the "purpose" of them is to protect the plant from invaders. The antiseptic properties are due to the activity of the sulphur compounds.

Mustard oil can be prepared synthetically by heating allyl bromide, allyl chloride or allyl iodide with potassium thiocyanate.

When working the invention mustard seeds are ground together with bismuth and ideally honey to form a paste. It is not yet known what is the active substance from the mustard seeds but having regard to the above described chemistry it is highly likely that the active agent is the Agiycone component, that is to say the isothiocyanate and, more specifically, allyl isothiocyanate.

As mentioned above it is preferable to combine bismuth carbonate with mustard seeds and a sweetening agent such as honey.

Honey is a mixture of invert sugars and compound saccharides produced from the nectar of flowers by enzyme action in the honey sac of, typically, the bee Apis mellifica. Although there is well documented use of honey in medicine when mixed with various drugs as a soothing preparation, for example, for soothing a sore throat, there is no record of the use of honey for treating viral diseases, wounds, burns or the like.

It will be apparent that the invention encompasses not only an agent made of naturally occurring components but also an agent made of corresponding synthetic components.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only.

The agent of the invention is manufactured by combining three components in the following proportions.

1 teaspoon of pure grade bismuth carbonate BP mixed with 2 tablespoons of mustard seeds, ideally Finatif-^ba or Braffica juncea and 1 tablespoon of sweetening agent such as honey.

The ingredients are intimately mixed using a pestle until a smooth paste is provided.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the two aforementioned mustard seeds are mixed together in equal amounts and then 2 tablespoons of the seeds are added to the 1 teaspoon of bismuth carbonate and 1 tablespoon of honey.

When the paste has been produced it can then be administered internally, by oral administration or externally by applying the paste to the area to be treated.

In in vivo experiments, the agent of the invention has proved successful in curing viral infections in horses, including Herpes viral infection.

Further, the agent has also been successful in curing Herpes viral infections in man and flu virus infections. Further the agent of the invention has proved useful in curing lesions, ulcers, skin ailments, burns and the like.

The efficacy and rapidity with which the agent of the invention acts to cure an ailment is striking and indeed characterises the agent of the invention.

Thus it can be seen that an agent in accordance with the invention provides an effective means of treating a wide variety of conditions in the human or animai whether internally, externally, loc lised or systemic.