Evening star., 1950-06-23
Anti-Histumine Tested
For Athletes Foot Cure
Army Experimenting With
Compound. Diphenylpyrolins
By Thomos r. Henry

An Army doctor. taking q refresher
course At the Army Medical School here
last winter. developed bad case Of ath-
lete'S foot
1t was so painful, he could not sleep.
All the standard prescriptions did no
good. In desperation. Capt, Layne Z.
Carson was ready TO try anything. with
out much rhyme or reason.
That was about the time the antihis-
tamines were having a biG run as cold
cures and preventives. One OF them
was chemical compound, diphenylpyra-
line It was in the form of a salve, put
out by one Of the biz drug companies
DR.. Carson rubbed some Of 1t on his
itching feet.
That night he fell asleep. The next
morning itching. swelling and infiama-
tion had nearly disappeared. A few days
later, Capt. Carson returned to duty at
Walter Reed Hospital. so impressed and
mystified by what had happened that he
asked permission to start a research prof.
ect on the antihiStamineS as remedies
for athletes foot. ring worm and allied
fungus infections
Results of the preliminary experiments
which he carried out with Miss Char
lotte Campbell, mycologist at the Army
Medical School, indicate quite strongly
that the long sought cure for these trou-
blesome conditions may be near. A large
scale test now has been set up among
troops in Puerto Rico. 1t will begin early
IN July and last through the summer.
Hundreds of Drugs Tested.
Hundreds Of these anti -histamines have
been tested-and several OF them placed
on the markets. cold remedies. Several
Of them. the Walter Reed tests show.
have no value whatsoever against fungus
infections. One other. pyrabenzamine,
was almost equally effective. This is one
OF the oldest Of the cold cures.
Trichophyton. one OF several species
OF fungi that cause athletes foot and
ringworm infections, was used for the
first tests. The research team was care
ful to test the fungus on a medium con-
tanning blood serum. Many fungicides
that perform well on media without
blood serum have been hailed as ath-
lete's foot cures and later proved dis
appointing when used on living tissue
The media containing serum give a
much more accurate picture of what the
agent will do when used on human
patients.
Pyrabenzamine worked very well in
the test tube. Diphenylpyraline behaved
even better. Tests of the anti -histamines
against samples of 10 other newly culti-
waited organisms from different human
LESSONS were equally successful in the
test tubes. Then q dozen patients with
stubborn cases Of athletes foot volun-
teered for the treatment. and results
dramatically confirmed the laboratory
findings.
Ringworm Of body and scalp respond
ed just as well. The 100 patients now
under treatment at Walter Reed include
those with such infections as tinea pedis
and tinea corporis, which are relatively
rare conditions. But since the foot in
lection Is the hardest to clear up the
majority are athletes foot sufferers.
Acts Very Quickly.
Oiphenylpyraline the tests show, acts
very quickly to relieve pain and heal
cracked skin and raw areas which offer
strong temptation to streptococcic and
staphylococcic infections.
The fungus. however, weaves in and
out Of skin cells. It has not yet been
demonstrated that the anti-histamine
penetrates as far as the fungus and
kills all traces Of it. 1t Is possible, the
Army research workers say, that out
side application Of the -histan,ines
may be supplemented by oral doses In
order to catch the fungus from both
sides.
Among the questions they are trying
to answer are: What part OF the anti
histamine molecule is responsible for the
ability to suppress the release OF hista-
mine from the body?
What makes some fungi pathogenic
to man, while others are harmless or
even beneficial?
There may even be new light on the
mechanism by which mould antibiotics.
such as penicillin, achieve their remark
aDle results.