IN VITRO FUNGISTASIS BY A BACTERIUM (BACILLUS SUBTILIS VAR. XG AND XY)

Abstract

THE POSSIBILITY of successful biologic therapy for fungous diseases has been partially explored by a number of observers. It is of historic interest that the work of Chambers and Weidman¹ antedates by a year the original observations of Fleming² on penicillin. They isolated from the apparently normal interdigital toe webs of 4 subjects bacteria which were later identified as Bacillus subtilis. When the bacterial colonies were grossly mixed with Trichophyton gypseum (Trichophyton interdigitale) and this mixture cultured out, there was complete inhibition of fungous growth. Clinical studies using the live culture of B. subtilis brought about improvement up to 50 per cent in patients with dermatophytosis. According to Waksman,³ the growth of many soil fungi is inhibited by species of gram-positive spore-bearing bacilli. In 1942, Katznelson⁴ noted that a thermostabile, diffusible substance produced by an aerobic spore-forming bacillus inhibited the growth of 71 out