Evening star., 1937-06-09
NEW DRUG R|DS
BODY OF DISEASE
Powerful Medicine Which
"Shoots" Bacteria Re.
veaIed to Doctors.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
ATLANTIC CITY, N. J., June g.
A drug which shoots like big
Bertha" gun far beyond the range Of
any chemical previously used in medi-
cine received its first intense inspec-
ton yesterday before 10000 members
of the American Medical Association.
The drug Is a red dye called
"sulfanilamide," which was developed
in Germany and has received its
first trials on human beings in this
country only within the last year.
Its blasting power for bacteria ranges
all the way from those which cause
sore throats to type Of pneumonia
which is highly fatal and has resisted
previous efforts at treatment.
Effective In Many Diseases.
Physicians who have used the drug
and who are reporting on It's uses
this week we're cautious about claim
ing too much for it. They agreed,
however, that they had found it
effective on this amazing list Of
scarlet fever, erysipelas, septic sore
throat, brain infections and some
brain assesses, pyelitis, gonorrhea,
maStoids, acute tonSoltis, some chronic
skin diseases and type three pneu-
monia, which is the deadly form for
| which serums have proven ineffective.
DR.. Henry F. Helmholz Of the Mayo
Clinic at Rochester, MINI, declared
| he had found the drug highly effective
in checking the progress Of all Of the
| bacteria which infect the urinary
tract except one, which thus far has
| failed to respond. 1t, too, may suc-
| cumb if greater doses of the drug are
given.
Sulfanilamide, he added, works best
on the alkaline side of body fluids,
where the other drug he has used in
urinary tract infections, mandelic
| acid, refuses to work. Thus, he said,
Il believe that with these two drugs
We have the possibility Of clearing up
most of these infections"
Results to Be Published.
| DR.. Ralph R. Mellon Of Western
Pennsylvania Hospital at Pittsburgh
! declared in an advance report on a
book summing up the results of sui
| fanilamide treatment, which is soon 10
be published. that signal benefit" is
being claimed by large number OF
| physicians for an unprecedented
number of infections
The favorable results achieved in
the treatment of type three pneu-
monia in rats ARE of especial interest
since they were later paralleled by
similar results" in humans having the
disease, DR.. Mellon declared.
Other physicians declared that they
have had considerable success in use
OF the drug in treating gonorrhea, for
which no specific remedy has been
available, despite the fact that more
than 10 per cent of the population OF
the United States is believed to
have it.
The chief action of the drug IN
checking these infections, a number
OF physicians said, seems to be to
arrest their progress and thus enable
the body to eliminate the bacteria.
"Symballophone" Demonstrated.
| Expectant fathers can be warned
in the future to prepare themselves
for one, two or five children, two Uni
versity of California physicians said
today, by use of new instrument
similar to sound detectors used by
the Army to locate enemy airplanes.
The instrument is new stetho-
scope, called "symballophone" by its
inventors, DR.. William j. Kerr and
DR.. A. M BaSet. With it the physi-
clan for the first time can determine
the exact location Of sounds inside the
human body and pick up the pre-
birth broadcasts of infants long be-
fore they come into full voice. They
demonstrated the device today before
the association.
The physician can also use the in
strument to make more specific stud
les OF heart troubles, including the
timing and pitch of heart sounds; OF
diseases of the lungs and respiratory
track and friction within the lungs:
OF troubles in the vocal cords Of opera
and other singers, and the various
engine knocks" of the human body.
DR.. Leverett D. Bristol Of New York
urged the association to indorse and
put into practice an ancient Chinese
principle of medicine-paying the
doctor to keep you weh instead OF
paying him to cure you The time
has come, he declared for the physi-
clan to apply preventive medicine
rather than curative medicine and to
persuade the public to pay him "for
individual health protection and pro-
motion"
Birth Control Recognized.
American medicine gave recogni-
ton today to birth control as proper
medical practice after long-standiny
record of opposition to contraceptives.
The association has made a tradi.
ton of turning down birth control.
For Is years the fight has gone on for
approval, but it was not until four
years ago that the controversy came
actively into debate. Two years later
an investigating committee was ap-
pointed.
The action today was unanimous,
with the house of delegates, governing
body of American medicine, deciding
to make clear to doctors their legal
rights in using contraceptives, to in
vestigate methods of contraception, to
promote education in fertility and
sterility and to restrict control of con-
traceptives to legally licensed clinics,