Evening star., 1950-06-26
Cortisone Effective
For CuttIe Disease
Maryland U. Researchers
Announce Result of Tests
By Thomos 4. Henry

CortiSone. the new miracle drug which
has been effective in treating arthritis
in humans, has also been found effective
in the cure of one of the most mysterious
diseases Of cattle. il has just been an
nounced by research workers at the
University Of Maryland.
The disease is ketosis 1t is a meta
bolic disturbance of dairy cows-partic-
ularly high producers-which usually
occurs during the first two or three
weeks after calving. The sugar content
of the blood is below normal. The
symptoms are refusal to eat, decrease IN
milk production. marked loss of weight.
weakness ard paralysis. Sometimes the
cows show crazed appearance and
have been observed to paw partitions,
foam at the mouth, and walk throueh
barhej wire fences. Many Of the ami
mails die in a few weeks.
The Importance OF this finding. ac-
cording TO DR.. Joseph c, Shaw and Dr.
B. c. HatzioloS of the University OF
Maryland experiment station. is not TO
the dairy industry alone, but possibly
to human medicine. Something similar
to ketosis appears associated with dia-
betes and several other diseases. In
humans it always is complicated. but
III COWS IL OtCuIS III a pure lotIu.
1t is due. the Maryland experimenters
say. to deficiencies in both the adrenal
and pituitary glands. The cows repre-
sent conditions which may occur in
humans. but in simpler fashion.
An entirely new class OF sulfs drugs
which are active against the spirochetes
best known as the germs of syphilis but
o1c Co. of11 h,tN
and animal infections. has Just been re-
ported to the American Association for
the Advancement OF Science.
These are the so-called disulfides. far
more complex than any Of the previous
sulfa drugs. but well-known to chem
lists. The possibility of using them to
combat infections has been considered
for the past IS years. but most expert
ments have indicated that they were of
very little value. They were weaker than
the sulfanilamides, and at the same time
more poisonous.
The sulfa drugs proved especially ef-
fective against the so-called cocci.
bugs" responsible for some of the most
dreaded human diseases from pneu-
monia to meningitis. They were almost
entirely ineffective against the spiro-
chete family. They tended to prevent
the cocci from multiplying in the human
body by interfering with some essential
physiological process.
The present report is from four Italian
chemists headed by DR.. p. Pratesi Of the
University of Pavia. Their tests show
that two of the disulfldes. while COM
pletely ineffective against the germs
which are combatted by the sulfanila-
mides, have quite strong action against
the spirochetes. They have been tested
both against the germs of syphilis and
those of European relapsing fever and
several other maladies. The tests have
been made both with germs in test
tubes and with mice.
The Italian scientists are not setting
up these drugs as effective methods Of
treatment. at the present stage. The i'm
portant part of their report is that the
disulfides interfere with quite different
biochemical system in the body. the
nature of which remains unknown.
They may have opened up an en-
tirely new field of medicine which
eventually may become as important as
that of the sulfanilamides themselves.