PENICILLIN "FARM"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 11, 14 January 1944, Page 3

PENICILLIN "FARM"

A DOCTOR'S KITCHEN COSTS 5 CENTS A PLATE PITTSBURG. How the scarce drug penicillin is being produced in the kitchen of his home at "five cents a plateful" was explained to-day by Dr. Julius A. Vogel, plant physician for the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation. Although a comparatively crude type, he said, his penicillin has proved to be more effective in treating external infections. He added that any properly-equipped physician can "grow" his own supply. Dr. Vogel cited more than a score of cases where he said complete cures were effected with his "kitchen penicillin." "All surface pyogenic infections can be treated by the green-mould culture, produced at five cents a plateful," he remarked, "and it doesn't require the services of an experienced bacteriologist." Dr. Vogel's penicillin is grown in covered glass dishes about the size of saucers, the medium being ordinary corn starch cooked for a halfhour at 400 degrees. The greenish mould spreads over pieces of gauze, and within four days is ready for use oh infections. About a dozen "patches" can be taken from each dish, Dr. Vogel explained. The gauzes can be used anywhere from the fourth to the twelfth day after the penicillin growth has started, the doctor said. The growth of the mould continues after the gauze has been placed on the patient. Bandages are fastened securely, but are not made air-tight since penicillin needs oxygen to generate.