iia.) a

@ Bacteria adapt to the ‘wonder drug

Facts about penicill:

N the few short years since

the discovery of antibiotics,
the “wonder drugs” that were
at one time believed to deal
certain death to innumerable
microbes, these bacteria have
undergone considerable
changes in their struggle for
survival.

Bacteria that ten years ago
were wiped out by penicillin
are now unaffected by it;
others that used to go down
under quite a small dose now
need an’ enormous dose to de-
stroy them.

We knew this even before
the end of the war, for it was
found, when treating soldiers
in Italy, that at first sulphona-
mides were 100 percent ef-
fective; but by the end of the
war some bacteria had become
immune to these drugs.

That bacteria had in such a
short time developed resist-
ance to antibiotics came at
first as a shock and a puzzle;
now it has led to much bac-
terial research and a more
scientific use of antibiotics.

Whole institutions are de-
voted to this branch of re-
search and to the production
of new antibiotics.

Bacteria are single-celled or-
ganisms which multiply so fast
that they can adapt themselves
to a new environment very
rapidly. Generations of bac-
teria are produced in a day
which it would take the human
species many millions of years
to produce.

Thus a strain of bacteria
can be made to accustom itself
to living in a different envir-
onment from its ancestors or
to living in new conditions in
our tissues.

For this reason it takes a
great and sudden change of
environment to destroy bac-
teria.

So when antibiotics were
first introduced they came as
a knockout blow to many bac-
teria. All strains of strpto-
coecus (causing bad throats
and diseases of that kirid) and
staphylococcus (cause of boils,
ete.) were destroyed by peni-
cillin.

Today both organisms have

changed in their reaction to -

penicillin, and different strains
respond to different antibi-
otics. Many staphylococci
have become “penicillin re-
sistant.”

This has led to research to
identify the various strains of
these organisms, and the dis-
covery that, while some strains
are indifferent to various an-
tibiotics, others are mildly af-
fected, or respond to treat-
ment by different antibiotics.

It is possible to identify dif-
ferent strains of bacteria by
their various characteristics
and to “type” them. For in-
stance, the food - poisoning
group of germs called salmon-
ella now have an international
registry of their own, almost

like a crooks’ gallery of finger-

prints.
Hospitals have each their
own strain of insensitive

staphylococcus, becoming more
and more resistant. And cross-
infections by such strains can
quickly kill adults after an
operation, or new-born babies.
As in Vancouver, this has be-
come a major problem in some
hospitals.

While new antibiotics are
constantly being introduced to
deal with resistant strains of
germs, we are also learning to
use these drugs in a much less
casual way.

When penicillin was first
introduced, for example, there
was a tendency to regard it
as a cure-all. In the US.,
small doses went into throat
lozenges, toothpaste, lipstick,
face creams, and_ resistant
strains of bacteria causing bad
throats and boils developed
rapidly.

Resistant
velop naturally,

strains can de-
but do so

mainly in people not ade-
quately dosed for some infec=
tion and go on taking too little
for too long.

The new strain then flour-
ishes and is passed on from
patient to patient.

To defeat this the practice
is now to give a strong, knock-
out dose for a short period —
normally five days.

And even patients who re-
spond quickly are kept to that
five days, because they may
otherwise .appear to recover,
but go on handing on resistant
germs to other people.

In hospitals, before giving
an antibiotic we identfy the
organism and test its sensi-
tivity to various antibiotics,
though a serious illness that
brooks no delay in treatment
may have to be tackled with
large doses of antibiotics chos-
en at ‘random and changed
every few days if the disease
does not respond.

Unfortunately in general
practice prebably 99 percent
of patients are still given an-

ALEXANDER FLEMING
He discovered pencillin

tibiotics on a hit or miss basis,
without any previous identifi-
cation of the germ or selec-
tion of the rug.

Until we have health centres,
it is altogether too difficult
for most doctors to get patho-

ee ee —

logical tests done before pre
seribing.

And yet all our research
proves the importance of suit-
ing our drug to our germ.

For instance, we now knoW
that- two antibiotics, used 10
gether, may reinforce each
other or cancel out, and the
right combinations of existing
antibiotics are known. :

We have also discovered
that some antibiotics can SUP”
press a disease without des-
troying it, producing a mil
but chronic form, which may
gradually kill the patient.

We know that others ca
prevent bacteria from repro-
ducing without killing them
giving the patient’s own resi
tance a chance to deal with
the bacteria. But it is pelieved
that all this type will kill thé
organism, given a strong
enough dose.

We have also discovered that
antibiotics can, in rare case
dangerously upset the “pal-
ance of nature’ between thé
very many normally harmless
organisms in our bodies.

All this has taught us tha
successful “pacteriologic®
warfare” is not a matter of ab
isolated ‘battle in which ave
and germ “shoot it out.”

We have to know our
teria, choose our drug, and WU
derstand the balance of 0%
ture, of which bacteria are an
important part, to be sure
our victories over disease:

pac

He taught the creed of brotherhood

ILLIONS of people in Asia
this year are taking part in
celebrations marking the
2500 anniversary of the birth

of Buddha, founder of one of
the world’s greatest religions.
Peace on earth and brother-
hood of man was the watch-
word of Buddhism — a broth-
erhood which recognized no
barrier of race, caste or coun-
try.

The Buddha’s days were a
period of revolutionary chang-
es in Indian society. In the pat-
tern of uneven development
prevailing at the time there
were primitive communistic
societies side by side with nas-
cent class-dominated -states.

In Buddha’s teachings there
are indications of a strong re-
sentment against the emerg-
ence of the class society, and
of harking back to the egali-
tarian principles of the ancient
tribal society.

In a famous discourse with
Ananda, Buddha emphasized
how the republic of the Ujji-
ans could withstand attacks so
long as “they meet together
in concord, and rise in con-
cord and carry out their un-
dertakings in concord.”

In Mahavastu-avadana, the
Buddhist concept of the rise
of monarchy is given. Here
there is no divine right of
kings, but a remarkably real-
istic approach to the question,
unique in ancient Indian lit-
erature:

“Then everybody assembl-
ed together and resolved: Let
us elect someone from among
ourselves to look after the bor-
der of each field. He will be
strong and intelligent and
obliging to all. Each of us will
pay him, by way of his remu-
neration, a part of our own
produce. He will punish the

criminal; he will protect the
righteous and look after the
just share of each.

“They elected one from
among themselves and agreed

to pay him the sixth portion’

of their own crop. On the
consent of all he became a
Raja. That is, why the Raja
is called the Mahasammata, or
the Great-Consent.”

No incarnation of God, the
king is enjoined, centuries
later, under the Buddhist ten-
et “Thou are only the servant
of the people and the salary
is there in the form of the
sixth part of the harvest. Thou
must not be vain.

Against economic inequal-
ity, it was obvious that the
Buddha had no effective solu-
tion, But in his own monastic
order communes were based
on economic equality. Outside
the eight items of personal
use, such as clothing and the
begging bowl, all the rest of
their belongings were held in
common. Even implements and
bedsteads were regarded _as
communal property.

In the growing expansion
of class society all around, here
in the Buddhist order was
sought to be preserved a basis
of classless organization, a
relic of the bygone days of
primitive communism.

Perhaps this explains why
early Buddhism had an over-
powering appeal for the mil-
lions rapidly being overcome
by~the new social setup of class
dominated society.

That was how persons of low
origin and humble birth are
found to be prominent in the
early Buddhist lores.

Upali, who was regarded as
the chief authority after Bud-
dha himself, was a barber, and

there were many other regard-
ed normally as outcasts who
came to occupy important po-
sitions in the Buddhist hier-

archy.
®

If economic inequality could
not be attacked effectively by
the Buddha, despite the model
of communal life set in his own
order, the great teacher made
a powerful effort to fight so-
cial inequality.

4

A figure known throughout the world
NOVEMBER 30, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE —

From his has come the mos!
powerful indictment of as
monstrosity of the caste 5°
tem. In his own order, he
Chandalas, the lowest of ve
low, had equal rights Wy
others. Like the rivers ming
ing in the great ocean, t
Buddha told his disciples f

“These four castes, Noble”
Brahmans,  Visyas, sudre

Continued on Page 12
See BROTHERHOOD

pact i