| & @ ® Antibiotics They make it possible now fo treat almost any bacteria infection and cure most of the patients By DR. A. GUEST (First of two articles) NTIBIOTICS were called “wonder drugs” when they were first introduced be- cause the mortality rates of bacterial infections were~ so drastically reduced. Now these diseases, though still serious, can be effectively treated and are usually entirely curable. Antibiotics are chemicals that interfere specifically with the life processes of the bacterial cells to either cause their death or to prevent their growth and multiplication with effecting human cells. If the antibiotic used causes the death of the bacteria in the body, the in- fection is quickly ended. If it merely prevents their reproduc- tion, the white blood cells, the body’s natural. scavengers, act under the protective screen of the medicine to destroy the weakened invaders. The many different antibio- tics work in varied ways, but their methods of action are all based. on one simple premise: the small and simple bacterial With bubble gum for breakfast And double gum for tea I'll marry you If you’ll marry me. ORRAINE meditated for a moment or so then slowly shook her head. For 24 hours now I’ve been wondering: did she refuse my offer of marriage conveyed through the verse because I wasn’t good enough? Or because she knew gum was too poor a cement to keep people together in wedlock, Six- year-olds are’smart ... My interest in bubble gum started when I saw a pack- age of it in the colors of the American flag. It was orna- mented with stars and stripes and with these words: BATTLE Bubble Gum - Then came the come-on: ‘Military Emblem Inside.” What makes a manufacturer go. war-like when culti- vating the children’s market ? Because he knows that it has already been made responsive to a military appeal by newspaper cartoons, TV programs, school books, military parades with music and gay uniforms. The manufacturer can also feel that he will never be snooped upon by the FBI or expelled from the Granite Club in Toronto. And so it goes: war propaganda from cradle to cannon fodder. . . , I stopped to look at my watch just now. It has on it the word Mir—its name. I saw the same word spelt out on a railway embankment in Siberia, spélt out by somebody who had gathered white stones. I saw it spelt out against the sky in neon signs and fireworks displays. I saw it in a bakery window, in the shape of a pretzel. Igor, my Rus- sian driver, looked at it and said quietly: “Each one does what he can, with what he has.” Why do they saturate their own people with peace propaganda and try to saturate the world with it as well? The founder of the Salvation Army, General William Booth, once said: ‘Why should the devil have all the good tunes?” Well may we ask: why do we let the Soviet Union take over the word Peace while we tattoo the minds of our children with the word War? cell (more plant-like than ani- mal) differs greatly in structure and metabolism from the more complex cells of the human. Thus it is possible to attack and derail processes in the bac- terial cell vausing its death with- out in any way interfering with the normal metabolism of hu- man cells. Penicillin prevents the bac- terial cell from forming walls, and thus the cells are destroyed in the process of reproduction. Mammalian cells build their walls in entirely different ways and are unaffected by the pre- sence of penicillin. The tetracy- clines interfere with bacterial ‘use of manganese, but have no such effect on human tissue. Antibiotics specifically attack and destroy bacteria living with- in a human being without affect- ing the individual human cells. In general, antibiotics are che- micals formed naturally by molds or fungi that act to pre- vent bacterial growth. Penicillin vras the first practical antibiotic found. It was discovered in the early 1940’s in England, and the pressure of World War II re- sulted in mass quantities of it being produced in order to cure ~ wound infections. It is still one of the most potent antibiotics known and causes bacterial death in a great many infec- tions. For many years it was thought that the spectrum of bacteria susceptible to penicillin was relatively narrow, and that its use was rather limited. Re- cent work has shown that in massive quantities (30,000,000 to 100,000,000 units per day in- stead of the customary 1,000,- 000 to 2,000,000) most bacteria are sensitive to it, and it is little more dangerous to the patient in these large doses. So in the future penicillin may prove to be an even more valu- able drug than originally sus- pected. Following the discovery of penicillin, a myriad of different Filling of penicillin into vials for the final drying stage place under rigidly sterile conditions. Vial is 20 c.c. in size but® ’ depends on potency. _ antibiotics was found in the late 1940’s and early 1950's. Why the need for all these dif- ferent antibiotics? Originally it was thought that penicillin would be able to cure all bac- terial infections, but within a short time after its introduc- ‘New journal carries Soviet translations A new Canadian journal that made its debut at the start of this year is quietly making an impact among that large section of the public that is interested in what is going on in the Soviet Union. Its title is “Soviet Af- fairs” and it is published month- ly (except August and Septem- ber) by Avenue Publications, Toronto, and is distributed by the Canada-USSR Association. The journal publishes trans- lations from Soviet periodicals and selected foreign commen- tary. Some idea of how wide a range of topics is covered may be obtained from a few of the titles carried in the first two issues: “A Laboratory in Outer Space,” “Shakespeare’s Words,” “Canadian Doctor Visits the USSR,” “The Tropics Are Clos- ing in on Europe,” “Is There Life on Mars?,” “Malignant Tu- mors and Measures Against Them,” “The ‘Soviet Family Budget,” “A Look at Russian Education,” “The Motor Scooter in a Knapsack.” The first two issues of the ‘journal have received favorable comment from all parts of Can- ada, particularly from teachers, — high school and university stu- dents, and doctors. The journal sells for 75 cents a single copy or $6 for a year’s subscription and may be obtain- ed by writing to 84 Avenue Rd., Toronto 5, Ontarlo. treat almost any bactle™y April 15, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PO% | tion, it was noted that ventional doses, it was. 7 tive against many bactell™ ‘ Thus the quest bega® a new compounds that woul different spectra of activ”, attack bacteria resistant "1 cillin. Each of the ant has a specific range 9 a activity, and there af 7 bacteria against while most effective. i Thus it is. possible Mi) fection with approprial’ biotics and cure most || patients. Most infectiO are caused by the more i a bacteria and can be | with the more readily ay antibiotics, but there 9 medicines available tO *4 even the rarest and most ant organisms if used priately and. in time. | In the next article ™/ discuss the use and me" these compounds. ha De-automate? | y The ultimate answer A % mation was discovered 49) cidentally by a janitor. 9, ( covery was a very sill of if you throw away a com) o cards, it is completely © gy This was exactly what are house janitor in Los © | California, did. ; ef) i a Thinking the hundi@, boxes of cards were 4 janitor threw them a the cards were the nal addresses of 70,000 pres past county employees ca for the purpose of mail federal income tax form* The result was that © forms were mailed oul late as county officials frantic call for help to ¥ ton for a duplicate list | while the huge computel ?f ed silently in its prival® j not a cog moving, not ( flashing.