1940's Medicine and Health | "Drug Aiding Fight on Tuberculosis"

Newspaper article

By: The New York Times

Date: December 4, 1947

Source: "Drug Aiding Fight on Tuberculosis." The New York Times, December 4, 1947.

About the Scientists: This article reported on the research of Selman A. Waksman (1888–1973) and Hubert A. Lechevalier. They worked at Rutgers University in New Jersey and were among the foremost bacteriologists of the era. Five years earlier they had announced the development of streptomycin, the first pharmaceutical agent that effectively treated tuberculosis.

Introduction

The first drug used to treat tuberculosis was streptomycin, a relative of penicillin that was derived from antibiotic substances found in the soil. The drug, introduced in 1945, was effective for a while but, as has been happening continuously since the development of antibiotics, the bacteria began to develop strains that resisted...