Word: penicillin
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...Manhattan last week, honeymooning with his 40-year-old Greek bride, 71-year-old Sir Alexander vigorously defended his antibiotic. "[The trouble] is not that it makes the microbes resistant," he said, "but rather that some people become sensitive to it. The penicillin still works on the germs, but the patient sometimes becomes too uncomfortable to permit its use ... In those cases, the cure may be worse than the ailment...
...denied that these have become resistant after exposure to the drug. These strains were resistant all along, he argued, but made up only 2-3% of the staphylococci; now they are involved in 50% of cases treated in hospitals and 10% of those treated outside-but only because penicillin has killed off the other strains...
...concession Sir Alexander made: penicillin is being used far too freely all over the world in cases where it can do no good, especially in common colds...
...foods do not react to them if the foods are boiled. This may explain why the British, who boil everything in sight, have so few allergies. CJ Dr. Max Berkowitz, a visitor from Israel studying the effects of drugs on children, found 11% allergic to the sulfas. 7% to penicillin, less than 2% to aspirin...
...Ehrlich's dream of a "magic bullet" to cure syphilis came a step nearer fulfillment. The Chicago health department treated 125 early cases with single whopping doses (2,500,000 units) of Bicillin, a variant of penicillin which stays in the body as long as a month. After a year, 94% had no sign of the disease...