Complicating TB-like disease being studied: LSU Medical School Making Tests

              Mr. G. Was being treated for tuberculosis.
AU his symptoms indicated he Was suffering from the dread disease.
When his sputum was examined Under the microscope, the germs appeared to be the germs of tu-bercutosis.
{ But something was wrong with the picture. Mr. G. was not responding to routine T.B. treatment as were the other patients at the hospital.
There was a very good reason for tjiis. Mr. G. did not have tuberculosis. Instead he was suffering from a tuberculosis-like disease, symptoms of which mimic T.B. practically all the way down the line.
LITTLE IS KNOWN
Mr. G. is just one of many patients with tuberculosis-like diseases. So little is known of these diseases they have not yet acquired names. At present they are referred to as anonymous, tuber-
culosis-hke   ailments   or   anonymous mycobacteria.
To help people like Mr. G., scientists at the Louisiana State university medical school are car-Tying on laboratory studies to differentiate between true tuberculosis and anonymous, tuberculosis-like ailments.
If a Charity hospital patient with all the signs and symptoms of T.B. does not respond to tuberculosis treatment, special studies are made of the germ cultured from his sputum.
Dr. John Seabury said in Southern Louisiana and parts of Texas there is an anonymous, tuberculosis-like disease which is so similar to tuberculosis even the smartest diagnostician may have trouble telling them apart.
"The X-ray picture is the same," explained the scientist, who heads the research team. 'The symptoms are the same. Only when the anonymous organism is grown in the laboratory can positive differentiation be established. Fortunately the germ of this ailment will sometimes respond to routine tuberculosis treatment."
Dr. Seabury said a different type of anonymous mycobacteri-um is responsible for a tubercu-losis-Hke disease in Georgia, Flor-Ma and parts of the Carolinas. DOES NOT RESPOND
"This type is less common in Louisiana, added the scientist who is professor of medicine at the L.S.U. medical school.
"Nevertheless," he added, "it is important since it is a type which 4oes not respond   to   the   usual
xeatment for tuberculosis."
Dr. Seabury said he and his co-workers are trying to find ways of more rapidly identifying the various kinds of anonymous bacteria which produce tuberculosis-like diseases in man.
"If these germs can be rapidly identified and named,'1 he added, "then we can find specific drugs and methods for handling each disease. A number of laboratory tests are being used at present to differentiate these germs from the tubercle bacillus."
Dr. Seabury said the anonymous germ grows well at ordinary room temperature whereas the tuberculosis bacillus grows well at body temperature.
"Another way of telling the difference is their food requirements," he added. "The anonymous bacilli can live on much simpler foods than the tuberculosis bacilli. Their metabolism is also different. Oh yes, a germ does have a metabolism and a very complex one at that."
Dr. Seabury said some of the anonymous bacilli invariably are bright colored when grown in cultures whereas others are colored only when exposed to sunlight. The anonymous mycobacte-riipn, prevalent in Florida and Georgia, he added, is only lightly colored, being exactly like the tuberculosis germ in this , respect.
The scientist said he and his co-workers suspect the anonymous diseases found in Louisiana are contracted from soils or from vegetation. He said this is almost certainly true of the anonymous germ found in Florida or Georgia. 'FAST RECOGNITION*
How does one catch it?
"Well," explained Dr. Seabury, It could be transmitted by breathing infected dusts from the soil or from dried vegetation. It might also be contracted from transplanting plants. Unlike tuberculosis, there is no evidence it is transmitted from one human being to another."
How to avoid it?
"If our ideas are correct," said Dr. Seabury, "little can be done at present by way of prevention. The wind will blow and there will be periods of drought. After we can specifically identify these germs, perhaps we can find the soil in which they live and find ways of preventing the disease."j
The scientist said at present chief interest is centered in rapid \ recognition of the anonymous i germs so the patient may receive proper treatment,
"As soon as we know a patient is suffering from a tuberculosis-like disease," he adde$, "we test the germ cultured from him by exposing it to many different antibiotics and drugs. These tests are
done in testtube cultures. If one or more drugs are found to prevent the growth of the germ in the test tube, we give these drugs to the patient. The sooner the anonymous disease is recognized the sooner proper treatment can be inaugurated."
The research is being supported by the Tuberculosis Association of Greater New Orleans.