Author: Abikenova Ayazhan
Translated by Issabayeva Madina
Robert Koch found the cause of tuberculosis. What about the treatment of tuberculosis? In the 1930s and 1940s, tuberculosis was a worldwide problem: it was bacterial, it was severe and it was fatal. As the years went by, it never got over.
A fact was known: Mycobacterium tuberculosis perishes in the soil. But why and how? This issue was addressed by the American microbiologist Zelman Abraham Waxman. The scientist was born in Kiev, having graduated from a gymnasium in Odessa, he moved to the USA. In 1911, he entered the Agricultural College at the Rutger Institute. After graduation, Waxman received a master's degree and was appointed assistant in the department of soil biology. Subsequently, he devoted his entire career to microbiology. Interested in the ecology of soil microbes, he wrote a scientific paper on microorganisms living in the soil, in particular, on actinomycetes. The scientist studied chemistry at the University of California, received a doctorate in philosophy. As a result of his painstaking work in 1930, he became a professor of soil microbiology.
During the sensational tuberculosis, the American Association of Scientists turned to Waxman with a request to study the connection of the soil with the death of the pathogen. Waxman assembled a team of specialists and undertook a study of microbes in the soil in order to find an antibiotic that destroys tuberculosis bacilli. They tested over tens of thousands of strains of various microorganisms. In 1940, a group of scientists identified actinomycin as an antibiotic that effectively coped with mycobacteria. For the experiment, actinomycin was administered to guinea pigs, as a result, they all died due to the highly toxic antibiotic. In 1942, they found a new substance - streptomycin, which had a stronger effect against the causative agent of tuberculosis, but because of the narrow therapeutic field (optimal dose of the drug), its use had to be reviewed. Waxman did not give up and took up the purification of streptomycin, and finally, on October 19, 1943, a full-fledged discovery of streptomycin as a drug was made, the effect of which remained the same, but without harm to animals.
According to many reports, streptomycin in the first years of use saved even doomed to death patients with tuberculosis. In the museum Z.A. Waxman has copies of a letter of thanks from patients addressed to him and a group of scientists.
“I deeply thank you, Dr. Waxman, for the great achievement - the invention of streptomycin, which saved my eight-year-old daughter from inevitable death. When she contracted tuberculous meningitis, the attending physician said that only hope remains for a new drug, streptomycin. The daughter received him for five months and now returned home. I am sending you her photograph along with words of deep gratitude”. HongKoo, Korea, April 8, 1952.
What could be better when your work brings benefits to others and also saves lives?!
