In vitro study of alkylating agents against tubercle bacilli.

MATERIAL The sputa of five patients who had been confined at Howard Marcy Hospital for more than five years were collected. The diagnosis in all five patients was: far advanced pulmonary tuberculosis, active with sputum positive on smear and culture. In all patients, more than thm &ancc studies showed b a a resistant to isoniazid, PAS, smptomycin, ethionamide, pyrazinamide and cydoscrine. Clinical mistance was also p m t in all five patients. The sputum of each patient was collected ahd cultured in tuba wntainiig f d y prepared hens t e in Jen sen medium. .4fter thm weeks in an incubator at 37' C., all five tuba had profuse tubercle bacilli growth. The tuba were n u m b e d for patients 1 to 5 and each was subcultured in 50 tuba of Loewenstein-Jensen medium (50 from Patient 1, etc.). The tuba were kept at 37'C. and after three weeks, innumerable colonies g m v in all of them. Then, thiophosporamide was prepared in solution of 5, 10, 15 and 20%. per cent. METHOD^ The 50 tuba of patient 1 were treated as fouows: Two ml. of thi-tepa solution ( 5 pg.) w u r added to tm tubes; 2 ml. of thio. tepa solution ( 10 pg.) w w added to ten tubes; 2 ml. of thio-tepa solution (15 pg.) wert added to ten tube; 2 ml. of thic-tepa solution (20 y.) were added to ten tuba. Two ml. of distilled water wcre added to ten tuba as control. This procedure was carried out in the same manner for the other four patients.