Mold v. T.B.

A new hope against tuberculosis was reported in Science last week. A green mold believed to be of the penicillium family it attacks the tubercle bacillus. Its discoverers, Drs. David Kimball Miller and Albert Carl Rekate of the University of Buffalo School of Medicine, reported promising results on guinea pigs.

The discovery was made accidentally, in almost the same way as Dr. Alexander Fleming's finding of penicillin. The Buffalo researchers noticed a green fungus growing on a culture of tubercle bacilli stored in an icebox. The mold seemed to have an affinity for the tubercle germ; it did not grow well in any other medium. It produced a substance (not penicillin, which has been ineffective against tuberculosis) that checked the growth of tubercle bacilli. A preparation from the mold neutralized tuberculin in two hours.

Human tuberculosis germs treated with the mold were injected in 24 guinea pigs. Six died of T.B. The other 18 did not contract the disease, although an equal dose of the germs, not treated with the mold, was almost 100% fatal to a group of control animals.

The researchers have so far not identified the mold or tried it on human patients.

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