Aureomycin
During and shortly following World War II, new "miracle drugs" revolutionized the medical treatment of infections and gave life and hope to millions. The new drugs included several types of substances found to have antibacterial and antiviral properties. One of these classes of drugs was the tetracyclines, a family of antibiotics similar to penicillin and shown to be both nontoxic and effective against a wide range of infections.
Aureomycin, the first of the tetracyclines, was discovered in 1948 by American botanist Benjamin Minge Duggar (1872-1956) at the age of 76. Duggar had graduated from the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College (Mississippi State College) and studied at Alabama's Polytechnic Institute and Harvard University. He became professor of botany at University of Missouri and later at Washington University and Missouri Botanical Garden. He did pioneering research on the tobacco mosaic virus and became widely known for his work with molds and fungi.
Later, as a consultant with the Lederle Division of the American Cyanamid Company, he turned to research on new antibacterial drugs. Although penicillin and streptomycin were being widely used to treat bacterial infections, a number of diseases and strains of bacteria were resistant to treatment, so the search for new antibiotics continued.
Duggar focused his research on groups of molds found in soil. After testing more than 3,500 strains of molds, in 1945 he tested a sample taken from soil at the University of Missouri campus. A golden-hued substance produced by the mold exhibited antibiotic properties. After extensive testing, he found it to be active against bacilli, staphylococci, and streptococci. Duggar named the substance aureomycin, from the Latin word aureus, meaning gold, and the Greek word mykes, meaning fungus.
Continued testing revealed that aureomycin was effective against 90 percent of bacteria-caused infections. Furthermore, it was relatively safe. In human trials, clinicians found the medication effective against a wide range of infections with minimal side effects. Unlike penicillin and streptomycin, which had to be injected, aureomycin could be taken orally.
Aureomycin is also effective in treating diseases that did not respond to other antibiotics, such as trachoma, parrotfever, typhus, chlamydia, and mycoplasmas. It was also active against Rocky Mountain spotted fever, an infection which had spread throughout the United States. Caused by a microorganism called rickettsia and transmitted by a tick, the disease was fatal in one out of every five patients. For a time, aureomycin was added to livestock feed to prevent diseases in animals. However, this practice has been largely discontinued because it breeds bacteria which are immune to the drugs and, therefore, far more dangerous.
Other tetracyclines include terramycin, achromycin and declomycin. Many medical experts consider tetracyclines to be the least toxic and most effective antibiotics next to penicillin. However, they can cause minor side-effects such as nausea, diarrhea, and tooth discoloration. Because the tetracyclines have been used so widely against a variety of diseases, several strains of bacteria have developed resistance to them. As a result, physicians often prescribe other antibiotics for common urinary tract and respiratory infections.
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