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Volume 25, Number 3—March 2019
Etymologia

Etymologia: Streptomycin

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Streptomycin [strepʺto-miʹsin]

Figure

Thumbnail of Slide culture of a Streptomyces sp. bacteria, which produces the antibiotic streptomycin. Note the branching filamentous hyphae, abundant aerial mycelia, and long chains of small spores. Image: CDC/Dr. David Berd

Figure. Slide culture of a Streptomyces sp. bacteria, which produces the antibiotic streptomycin. Note the branching filamentous hyphae, abundant aerial mycelia, and long chains of small spores. Image: CDC/Dr. David Berd

In the late 1930s, Selman Waksman, a soil microbiologist working at the New Jersey Agricultural Station of Rutgers University, began a large-scale program to screen soil bacteria for antimicrobial activity. By 1943, Albert Schatz, a PhD student working in Waksman’s laboratory, had isolated streptomycin from Streptomyces griseus (Figure) (from the Greek strepto- [“twisted”] + mykēs [“fungus”] and the Latin griseus, “gray”).

In 1944, Willam H. Feldman and H. Corwin Hinshaw at the Mayo Clinic showed its efficacy against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Waksman was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1952 for his discovery of streptomycin, although much of the credit for the discovery has since been ascribed to Schatz. Schatz later successfully sued to be legally recognized as a co-discoverer of streptomycin.

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References

  1. Comroe  JH Jr. Pay dirt: the story of streptomycin. Part I. From Waksman to Waksman. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1978;117:77381.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=417651&dopt=Abstract
  2. Wainwright  M. Streptomycin: discovery and resultant controversy. Hist Philos Life Sci. 1991;13:97124.PubMedGoogle Scholar

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Cite This Article

DOI: 10.3201/eid2503.et2503

Original Publication Date: February 06, 2019

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Ronnie Henry, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd NE, Mailstop E28, Atlanta, GA 30329-4027, USA

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Page created: February 19, 2019
Page updated: February 19, 2019
Page reviewed: February 19, 2019
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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