DRUG STREPTOMYCIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27221, 26 October 1949, Page 6

DRUG STREPTOMYCIN

ONLY LIMITED SUPPLIES NOW AVAILABLE

EFFECT OF DOLLAR SHORTAGE Only limited ' supplies of the new drug streptomycin are now available to the Dunedin Public Hospital, the professor of pathology at the Otago Medical School,. Dr E. F. D’Ath, revealed yesterday. Supplies of the drug are being rationed, and the use of it is being restricted to the cases that will respond most readily. Most of the streptomycin is manufactured in the United States and, because of the dollar shortage, the Department of Health is rationing its distribution in New Zealand.

There were hopes that the drug would become more readily available in the future, since a factory had begun manufacturing it in Britain and a plant was being built by the Australian Government, Dr D’Ath said. Streptomycin is produced from a mould in the same way as penicillin. Although streptomycin is used chiefly for treating tuberculosis, recent results from its application in cases of abdominal gangrene at the Dunedin Public Hospital have showed a far quicker response than had ever tfcenrecorded. Three cases of abdominal gangrene which were treated with penicillin and sulphanilamide drugs showed no response. When streptomycin was used, however, the patients reacted within 24 to 28 hours, and full recoveries were made.