Manawatu Daily Times SATURDAY NOVEMBER 29, 1924. Another Disappointment.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2544, 29 November 1924, Page 6

Manawatu Daily Times SATURDAY NOVEMBER 29, 1924. Another Disappointment.

Tireless fighters against the white scourge have brought forward a long succession of cures, many of them launched on the world with extravagant claims backed by high authorities, but one after another they appear to have boon proved futile. Now we have the pronouncement from Christchurch that Professor Dreycr’s vaccine for the treatment of tuberculosis has not achieved results of sufficient importance to warrant its continued use. A year’s observations of 50 tost cases was made, and this is the result. These tests certainly have boon disappointing, but, asks an exchan ” \ arc they conclusive? They have iailed to confirm the high hopes that were raised by the publication of Professor Droyer’s experiments and conclusions, but pending a pronouncements upon the more* comprehensive tests that were undertaken by the Medical Research Council in Britain, it may be wiser to suspend judgment. The interest of the medical profession and the anxiety of sufferers from tho disease have boon so frequently attracted by claims of cures for tuberculosis tliat such a disappointment might bo regarded as decisive if it were not for the unimpeachable scientific authority of Professor Droyor. His work is based upon a distinctive characteristic of the organisms responsible for several diseases, among them tuberculosis, diphtheria, typhoid tovor, and anthrax, and including the streptococci and staphlyococcl. They are known to be encased In a fatty or waxy sheath, which mtykos them relatively impervious and hinders their contact with the cells of tho body, His ox-

periments, which follow the researches Of other investigators, Indicate that vaccines prepared from organisms artificially denuded of this, envelope are more effective agents for the formation of tjie anti-bodies by Which disease IS fought. When Professor Drcyer . announced his conclusions in June of last year, the keenest Interest was aroused, and the Medical Research Council immediately undertook o'xtonsive trials, promising that after adequate observation, a full statement of the clinical results would be published, and that If they were satisfactory. Arrangements would bo made for supplies of the antigen. It would have been gratifying if the New Zealand tests had contributed to proving the success of the new method. If they Should unfortunately be a forecast of tho larger inquiry’s results, the failure will stimulate renewed efforts to discover a treatment far the disease more efficacious that! any yet demonstrated.