The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-05-09

Washington, :, May a-The public
 health service observations, so far, in
 to the condition of patients inoculated
 by pr. F. IF. Friedman with his tu-
 bercuIosis vaccine do not Justify that
 confidence in the remedy which has
 been inspired by widespread publicity
 in the opinion of the surgeons who
 have conducted the governments in-
 vestigation.
 This first authentic and official con-
 clusion from the tests was announced
 here, today, before the national asso- citation for the study and prevention
 of tubercuIosis by pr. John F. Ander-
 son, director of the governments hy-
 gienic la boratory and pr A. M. Stin-
 son, another public health surgeon,
 who were detailed to observe the pro-
 gress Of the Friedmann patients at
 Mount Sinai hospital in New York.
 fsEve believe that at the present
 lime. says the report, i've are not,
 get in position to express an opinion based o1 the present eoHditSons uTden.
 observation The disease for which
 the remedy is used is prolonged and
 is characferized by periods of ad
 vancement and retrogression It is also one in which psychic influences are a, powerful factor. Time is there fore necessary to properly evaluate the effect of therapeutic measures.
 We must not, lose sight of the pos- sibIe therapeuticsya1ue of this prepara- ton and on the other hand it is necS essary to guard against too great an optimism in respect to it's merits as without presenting in detail the con dition of patients under observation we are in a position to state that the facts thus far observed do not justify that confidence in the remedy which has been inspired by widespread pub 1icity
 Tn our opinion, harm may have been done by this undue publicity in solar as it has fessened the confidence of tuberculosis persons in well orga- 11ized methods of treatment or inter rupted their use and we are constrain- ed to advise against any lessentng of those we'll known measures which not only have effected cures but which reduced the incidence of the disease We are aware that pr. -Friedmann does not wish to be judged scientifi- caIly on newspaper statements and he would undoubtedly disclaim re5pon- sibility for certain of those which have appeared. Nevertheless, 1t is on these that the public bases it's opinion until replaced by reliable and unbias- ed scientific pronouncements support ed by convincing data
 'sIn our series of patients. Dr. Friedmann has almost exclusively made use of the intrahnuscular meth cd alone in pulmonary cases and very considerable proportion of them have either developed no consider able infiltrate at all or have suffered from abscess formations It is evil dent, there1 ore. thar very consider a bIe portion of these patients may ex- pect their treatment at the hand of pr. Friedmann to extend over lonG period.
 ''Concerning the cultures submitted l to us, we may state that a series of experiments is under way. The bac- ciIlus has been found to be an acid l fast organism having properties quite | different from those of any tubercular | baccil1f with which we are acquainted. l It appears to be identical with or ganisn cultivated from a few loop l fulls of the. material used for. inJec- l ton which pr. Friedman permitted l us to place on culture media in his | presence. We requested Dr. Fried to furnish us with a large | amount of this material for exanina- uion but this he has declined to do. | We can state, however. that living | acid-fast bacteria are being injected | by the intras1nuscu1ar and fntravenous | method although we are ignorant of | what medium they are suspended in i pr what additional substance or sub stances may be contained in the final 
 The report covers exhau stiveIy the | history of the Friedmann 'tcure'' so lar as the facts have been available to the public health service from the time of its announcement in Berlin in November. 1912, and reveals the ef- .orts of the public health service to gather material from Dr. Friedmann ,or it's investigations
 On the whole, pr. Friedmanns 8 re- uctance to furnish certain details were not satisfactory from a scien- fife standpoint but the report says, in view of the great importance of he matter to tuberculosis patients throughout the country and in the | rope that a valuable remedy might rave at last been found to not only .ure tuberculosis patients but to pre- -ar,t the disease, the conditions tnn-