Evening star., 1950-07-21
Agriculture Scjentls,.-
Find New Streptomycin
Muy Overcome Drawbacks
In Use of Stundurd Drug
By Thomas R. Henry

A new streptomycin has been discov-
cred by Agriculture Department scien-
fists.
Slightly less potent In test tubes
against bacteria, it also may be less
poisonous and less likely to become use
less because of the ability Of germs
to acquire immunity than the present
standardized drug. These are the major
drawbacks at present to one of the most
potent anti-biotics yet known and have
made it of little value against some
maladies where it originally showed
great promise. @
Streptomycin is obtained from soil
fungus fairly common in the United
States. The new material comes from
a different species Of the same type Of
organism found in Japanese soil. accord
ing to the report to the American Asso-
citation for the Advancement Of Science
from DR.. Robert g. Benedict and his
associates Of the Agriculture Depart
ment's northern regional laboratory.
Defects Of Present Drug.
Because Of the defects Of the present
drug, careful study is made Of the ma
terial which can be derived from any
similar organism. 1t first held out high
promise against tuberculosis, but soon
an alarming complication appeared. The
germs rapidly developed an immunity
to it, some of them finally reaching the.
point where they could not live without
it. Any worth while effect required dos
age above the allowable toxic level.
The new material is indistinguishabl
from the American streptomycin except
by very complicated tests, DR.. Benedict
explains, and nothing is known about
its toxicity. The test-tube trials, how.
ever, have shown that it is quite potent
against bacteria Its chemical structure
is sufficiently different from that of the
standard drug so that it is quite possible
that germs which acquire immunity to
the latter still will be susceptible to the
new product.
A cholesterol- free diet, lately advo-
Gated as treatment of the dreaded
arterio-scleroSis, which Is major killer
Of the present era, will be spartan.
To bring down the level of this fatty
substance in the blood serum, accord
ing to report to the American Asso-
citation for the Advancement of Science
by DR.. Ancel Keys and his associates Of
the University of Minnesota, requires
the essential complete elimination Of
all fats from the diet. This means milk,
eggs. butter and great variety Of
vegetables. They found that halfway
measures have almost no effect.
The studies were carried out under
grants from the American Dairy Council
and the Public Health Service. Choles-
terol is a normal constituent of animal
tissues. There is some evidence that the
amount increases with age. That there
is any association between it and the
highly fatal heart ailment remains de-
batable, although highly suggestive evi-
dence has been presented.
Blood Levels Studied.
They studied the blood choleSterol
levels Of two groups Of normal men in
good economic circumstances. One
group ate freely eggs and butter and
did not cut away all fat from their
meat. They also consumed milk and
cheese freely. The other group diSliked
all these foods. The ingested cholesterol
Of the first group was at least three
fold that of the second. The difference
in the blood cholesterol level. however,
was insignificant. @ sr ts-.
Cutting the cholesterol intake of the
first group down one-haf also had very
little effect on the blood serum level.
The same was true when meat and dairy
products in the diet were replaced with
fatty vegetables. Vegetable fat, per Sc,
contains no choleSterol, but apparently
it can be converted to that in the body.
The fruit-rice diet lately advocated
for high blood pressure patients is essen
TALLY free of fat of any kind. The Uni
versity of Minnesota experiment shows
that it brings down the cholesterol level
very rapidly. but this goes up again as
soon as the normal diet is restored.