Streptomycin: The Controversy over the First Tuberculosis Antibiotic (Schatz vs Waksman)

Streptomycin was the first effective antibiotic against tuberculosis. But it’s discovery was controversial. The credit was awarded mostly to Selman Waksman, but his graduate student, Albert Schatz, had a legitimate claim to the title. In this video, you’ll learn why penicillin doesn’t work on tuberculosis, the discovery story of streptomycin, the pharmacology of aminoglycoside antibiotics, and why there’s so much controvery over the Nobel Prize of 1952.
☠️NONE OF THE INFORMATION IN THIS VIDEO SHOULD BE USED AS MEDICAL ADVICE OR OPINION. IT IS FOR GENERAL EDUCATION AND ENTERTAINMENT☠️
🔗 L I N K S 🔗
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📚My favorite books docs.google.com/document/d/1w...
🔑 P A T R O N S 🔑
Joanne K
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Anton
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Thelma S
Silverstar
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📜 S O U R C E S 📜
Miracle Cure, the Creation of Antibiotics www.amazon.com/Miracle-Cure-C...
Tuberculosis (2023) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NB...
Immune evasion and provocation by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (2022) www.nature.com/articles/s4157...
Tuberculosis in Adults and Children (2015) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NB...
The mycobacterial cell wall (2015) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Interplay of human macrophages and mycobacterium tuberculosis www.researchgate.net/publicat...
Antibiotic antagonist: the curious career of René Dubos (2016) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Dubos and Avery enzyme (1931) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Dubos antibiotic 1 (1939) rupress.org/jem/article-pdf/7...
Dubos antibiotic 2 (1939) rupress.org/jem/article-pdf/7...
Dubos antibiotic 3 (1939) rupress.org/jem/article-pdf/7...
Dubos 1941 rupress.org/jem/article-pdf/7...
Gramicidin pharmacology www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Russian Gramicidin link.springer.com/content/pdf...
Waksman and Woodruff, antinomyces antibioticus (1941) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Chemical nature of actinomycin (1941) pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/7...
Streptothricin paper (1942) journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/...
Fumigacin and Clavacin (1942) journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
Antibioic roundup! (1942) journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
The renaming of actinomycetes to streptomycetes www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Streptomycin original paper (1944) journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/...
Mayo Clinic human TB paper (1945) www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/a...
Streptomycin patent patentimages.storage.googleap...
Waksman Nobel speech (1952) www.nobelprize.org/uploads/20...
Streptomycin: Discovery and Resultant Controversy (1991) www.jstor.org/stable/23330620
Streptomycin, Schatz v. Waksman, and the Balance of Credit for Discovery (2004) www.jstor.org/stable/24632177
Streptomycin www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NB...
Aminoglycosides www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Aminoglycoside Revival: Review of a Historically Important Class of Antimicrobials Undergoing Rejuvenation journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Double blinding, explained www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NB...
Lehmann and PAS www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
🖼 Image attributions exceeded KZbin’s character limit! Please find attributions on the annotated script here: / streptomycin-93092791
0:00 Intro
0:38 Part 1: The Problem with Penicillin
5:36 Part 2: Patents and Promises
15:28 Part 3: Schatz hits the Fan
20:31 Coda: Impact of Streptomycin

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Alright, let's hear it: Team Schatz or Team Waksman? As always, sources are in the description

[@elnombre91]

Kurt Alder and Otto Diels both shared the Nobel prize in chemistry (1950) for the work that Alder performed in Diels' lab, developing the widely-used Diels-Alder reaction. If Alder could share the Nobel prize, I see no reason why Schatz shouldn't. Nothing that ground-breaking was published during my PhD, but best believe if my supervisor had won the prize for work I performed he would never hear the end of it.

[@lauramitrea]

I'm torn, as Dr Waksman shares his name with my friend's cat (also called Dr Waksman, definitely unrelated. I have it on good authority that Dr Waksman the Cat is a nazi, so wouldn't want to sully the memory of Dr Waksman the Man by accident) and Schatz means darling/treasure. Leaning towards Schatz. Mainly because, like any boss, Waksman wants to take all the credit even though he didn't do all the work.

[@otralee]

Schatz should not have been left out. it is the responsibility of the lead to ensure the student is recognized for their contributions.

[@FrankieFTW42]

​@@lauramitrea But...aren't *_all_* cats nazis?

[@lauramitrea]

@@FrankieFTW42 yes they are! As per the discoveries during the Second World War by Winston Churchill as part of his CatNav trial, as recorded faithfully in the documentary made by John Finnemore.

[@ethernetangel1133]

These videos are the best! Me and my coworkers at the pharmacy have already binge listened to your other content while working and have been excited for the streptomycin vid ! Please keep making content like this

[@PatKellyTeaches]

That’s so cool to hear! Thank you for bringing me into your workplace!

[@elongatedpocket1310]

@@PatKellyTeacheskeep ‘em up!

[@robertfletcher3421]

Worth mentioning Isoniazid, as patients taking this drug had a notable increase in mood. This led to the Tricyclic group of antidepressants. I worked as a nurse in a thoracic ward in Australia 1973 We only had one patient on streptomycin, everyone else was on rifampicin.

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Of course! I wanted to focus on the streptomycin story in this video, but I mention the RIPE combo at the end.

[@offmeds2nite]

Although I'm a PhD Biology student now, I really wish that this content existed when I was younger and figuring out my interests; these videos are inspiring! You have accomplished an amazing combination of storytelling and science communications at a level of technical depth that simply doesn't exist in TV documentaries, and science channels on KZbin. Please keep making videos!

[@PatKellyTeaches]

That is so encouraging to hear, thank you! Next video is on tetracyclines, and hopefully I'll get to antibiotic resistance by the end of the year!

[@susanmorgan9310]

My Grandmother died in the late 40s of TB leaving my Mother and her bothers orphans, I often think about how much better my Mothers life might have been if Streptomycin was available just a bit sooner.

[@nicholasmatuza728]

As a medical student of the youtube age, I am absolutely looked on your material. Thank you.

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Thank you! Gotta love what KZbin has done for education

[@wisebushido1682]

I rly dont know why this channel has small number of subscribers. Every video so far was super awesome. Not only i learned so much but I enyojed every second. Thanks man.

[@PatKellyTeaches]

I appreciate the kind words. I'll keep making vids regardless of how many people are watching!

[@lauramitrea]

Glad you're back in the swing of things - hope you're coping well after the Great Computer Crash 🙏

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Thanks Laura. I'm editing the next video on tetracyclines right now!

[@orangequant]

So good to hear you mention Dubos, whose work was so important to antibiotic development. On the Schatz/Waksman controversy, that Nobel prize should definitely have gone to both of them. As an aside, the 2012 America Invents Act (AIA) makes it really tough for large teams of inventors to protect their work. The AIA changed USA from a "first to invent" nation to a "first to file" nation. Before that, as long as you could prove that you were first to invent, you could get the patent rights. But now, ANYBODY can take your invention, run to the patent office, and you're screwed, unless you filed first. So, in a large team, leaks are a problem, even with the use of NDAs (non-disclosure agreements). AIA really threw inventors under the bus.

[@rabidsamfan]

My dad was working on TB when he met my mom. She was a lab tech. Once he managed to get his PhD, he started to reduce how many days patients at took streptomycin in a row because it had harsh side effects and was still effective at the lower dose rate. Mom isn’t here anymore, but she said that they thought you had to hit the bacilli when they were active. They went dormant some of the time, I guess. Dad’s name was William Dye.

[@lindemann316]

As a doctor i really appreciate the effort and research you put in making these videos. Quality content indeed.

[@kennithminnich]

Not far from my home we have an old tuberculosis sanitarium that's been repurposed as a municipal office. It's very nice, open and sunny.

[@Wilkins_Micawber]

I have allergic reaction to Streptomycin. After an injection I was knocked out for 3 days. The plus side is I've not smoked since. That was 55 years ag. o

[@hakanevin8545]

15:28 Schatz hits the fan 😄

[@Sakkura1]

6:44 Actinomycin is actually used to this day, mainly for cancer chemotherapy. Also for research use as it's a transcription inhibitor in eukaryotic cells too.

[@RepChris]

KZbin has been recommending me quite a lot smaller channels this half of the year, and quite a few of them have been absolute homeruns, including yours! I am very impressed by how well made your videos are, and even more so considering youre a relatively small channel and your videos could easily go toe to toe with a lot of much bigger channels, so its a shame your videos arent getting nearly the same exposure. I always look forward to your next video, since they cover very interesting stuff I often dont already know much about in a comprehensive, accurate and enjoyable fashion

[@georgebates7862]

An interesting sidelight on penicillin and streptomycin was their combination into a commercial drug called, appropriately enough, "Pen-Strep" or "Combiotic" that consisted of procaine penicillin G and dihydrostreptomycin. It was an injectable broad spectrum antibiotic drug that was a staple in veterinary medicine from the 1950's through to the 1980's. Your videos on medical history are very good and much appreciated but they could be improved if you occassionally included reference to veterinary medicine's contributions to medical science.

[@RustyShakleford1]

I see that combo now still without streptomycin I wonder why they got rid of kt

[@matthewgillam-lewis6831]

Your history of medicine videos are far and away the best educational content on YT. I could listen to you talk about infectious disease all day long. ✨💖✨

[@brad30three]

As a drug supernerd, I’m glad to have stumbled across your channel. :)

[@Matthew-tr6io]

As others have stated, stunned by your lack of views and subscribers! There are creators with millions of subscribers making videos half as thought out, researched, and polished as your content. Hope you blow up any day now!!

[@DavidAlsh]

Every time you show a video of how cells/DNA work - I'm blown away by how complicated it is. It's so intricate, I can't help but feel it's made up - though I know otherwise. The insanity of it is so fascinating and I appreciate the detail you get into in these videos!

[@kittenboops3538]

It’s interesting to learn now why the medicine I was once given for a UTI also mentioned in the information pamphlet how it could also be used to treat TB and plague

[@apeacebone6499]

Excellent research presented so clearly and dynamically. I learn so much from every one of your videos. Also... thank you for the little demonstration of the mRNA, ribosomes, tRNA, and amino acids! I knew vaguely that these things were a part of how cells did their thing, but I had no idea *how*. That's so cool!

[@johnnytarponds9292]

Thank you for describing gram positive versus gram-negative in this context. I've always been curious about this.

[@Jablicek]

This has been a fascinating series!

[@buzzyinurface]

Your videos are so fun to watch and I always learn SO much!

[@killercat970]

Hell yeah a new Pat Kelly vid

[@davidsault9698]

I'm a general reader, but I love videos of this depth.

[@maxthefool]

my fav youtuber atm for sure

[@isaacdmanful]

This is really well put together. Just waiting till John Green gets here

[@PlexiumGames]

Let’s go!!! A brand new video 🙏🙏

[@jmbyall]

Somehow youtube unsubscribed me from this channel?! I subscribed again because it's one of my favourites, love your work, I've learned so much and you explain things in a way that people like me (not in the medical field) can understand. Hope the algorithm is kinder to you soon and you get all the views you deserve.

[@sr80090]

Hey Patrick, I don’t know if you’ve read this book yet but I’m currently making my way through “Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America’s Most Storied Hospital” by David Oshinsky and it applies so well to what you teach in your videos. Through the lens of the first major public hospital in the US (Bellevue in NY), we see the changing science and sentiment in medicine from miasma theory to germ theory and much more. I think you would enjoy it if you haven’t read it yet :) I look forward to your videos so much, I’m very glad I found your channel!

[@PatKellyTeaches]

I actually read that earlier this year! My sister lives near the hospital, so I looked into making a video there, and read that book to hunt for ideas. I agree, it was a solid read

[@DavidJamesHenry]

Maybe I'm just young and naive, but it is the responsibility of a mentor to elevate their students so they can have a launching pad for their career.

[@RustyShakleford1]

Too bad the worlds about nepotism and gatekeeping information and jobs

[@tanyadrochner2105]

Your videos are fantastic! Interesting, factual, and well-paced. And the visuals you include are perfect. My husband and I have watched nearly all your videos since discovering you last month. This series is super interesting to two science nerds who were never very enthused about history😊

[@dmdrosselmeyer]

Absolutely love your channel! Thank you for the in depth and insanely interesting content🙏

[@otralee]

outstanding work, thanks so much

[@choijulia4925]

Hi patrick! i just wanna say thay you sosososo much for your videos! ive been binge watching them while im inpatient rehab for my chronic depression episodes :) i wont go in too deep ab it, just know that you’ve been helping me with my sleep, and i also enjoy all the information that i learn with you! sorry for my bad english lol im from Brazil 🇧🇷 anyways i’m happy to see a new upload 🎉 kudos :)

[@neville132bbk]

"bad English"?? ...na verdade, é perfeito.

[@linkin543210]

this should be made into a movie

[@JustaReadingguy]

Mind blowing interesting story line. Thanks

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Big thanks to The Miracle Cure by William Rosen for introducing me to the story. And thanks for watching

[@jeanoriordan]

I love love love seeing videos based on topics we have learned about in college & this drama with waksman

[@michaelsun1449]

I'm a resident in internal medicine. These videos are pretty awesome man.

[@PatKellyTeaches]

I appreciate the kind words. Thank you!

[@TheMsampson02]

Thank you for your series, it has been truly enlightening! Full disclosure, I work for a wellness department of a co-op as an in house herbalist. I admit that I can be quite skeptical of pharmaceutical drugs. That said, learning the history of this process has put this realm into perspective. I remain supportive of herbal medicines... but have gained a lot of respect for the researchers who truly worked hard to save lives. I will continue to watch through this series with enthusiasm!

[@pratiikkaushik8285]

Oh my gosh I was just thinking about this controversy the other day and literally forgot everything (which antibiotic, the PI, and the student) were involved this is a godsend lol

[@catherineb6880]

Fascinating! 2 questions: 1. If streptomycin was effective against gram positive and gram negative bacteria, why didn't it work on infections like strep and staph? 2. If it works by destroying the protein building process, why is it non toxic in humans and other animals? Does it not have that effect on animal cells?

[@RustyShakleford1]

It does a little bit but we're a lot bigger than the infection

[@whatsmyusername1231]

Great video!

[@livelaffluv]

Yes they're right these vids are the best! I'm NOT a pharmacist and totally binge!!

[@jxh02]

My hat is off to you for daring to try to pronounce a lot of these things. I figured that's half of what doctors learn in medical school. I have no business knowing any of it (I'm a computer geek) so it's doubly fascinating to me, for some reason. My current bathroom book, a pharmacology handbook, mentions (7:48) that if it's not quite an antibiotic, because synthetic, it's just called a chemotheraputic agent. (I think it's pee-tree dish, btw.) Keep going! This deserves a much wider audience, and there are plenty of others like me who just like to learn things. The visual of gram pos/neg is excellent, something my Choe Notes couldn't get across to me.

[@apeacebone6499]

The Petri dish is named after a German, Julius Richard Petri, whose name is pronounced peh-tree... so that's how I would pronounce the dish as well. It may be that people within the medical field pronounce it differently than the colloquial English pronunciation, much like for most people, the plural of fungus is fun-guy, but for most mycologists, it's actually fun-jy. But the important thing is, regardless of how he pronounces "Petri", we know what he means either way.

[@partlycloudy7707]

Streptomyces and Mycobacteria are distantly related to each other. Both are slower growing bacteria not typically recoverd in normal clinical culture. Both genera belong to te greater class of Actinomycetes, and are both found environmentally (Not M. Tuberculosis, but other members of the genus). So while we don't often use Streptomycin in the treatmenr of Tuberculosis, other aminoglycosides are used in the treatment of other Non-tuberculosis Mycobacteria, and can technically be used in TB treatment if desperate.

[@igormaka]

How did you choose "Shatz hits the fan" and not "Shatz fired"?

[@neville132bbk]

Shatz heard round the medical world.

[@dustinsearle4672]

I love your videos ❤❤❤

[@SophieMarie-qx7cr]

Do a video on antiviral history!

[@jessiedevore3523]

Team Schatz....b/c typical Corp to take advantage of people in thier employ. 😑 hire fresh eyes and new ideas and take all the credit b/c they work for you. That's some bs right there. I can understand sharing....just disappointing that humans are have always been like this. Hopefully we are leaning toward more accountability as we are more visable

[@igostupidfast3]

My mom got TB when she was a baby. Even when it's cured you test positive for it

[@neville132bbk]

This and the early development of X-ray therapy are two topics that have long interested me. It has proved fascinating so far this evening,,,, but not made easier by the Speed of Mr Kelly's delivery and the grating accent. Tomorrow-- the Terror of the Tetracyclines.

[@jimr1603]

Cool Series. My medicine through time GCSE history was half a lifetime ago, but this is cool stuff on top! You call TB the most deadly disease ever. I've seen a stat that maybe 50% of all people ever died with malaria. Is TB deadlier, or do we have to just look at bacteria and viruses to have TB on top?

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Hmm, not sure where the malaria stat comes from, but my initial TB claim came from The Miracle Cure by William Rosen: " …the deadliest disease in history. By then, tuberculosis had killed one-seventh of all the humans who had ever lived: more than fifteen billion people" And then confirmed with the following sources: www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/02/13/1079505737/before-covid-tb-was-the-worlds-worst-pathogen-its-still-a-monster-killer www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/newsroom/topics/tb/index.html

[@Rosie-yt8nd]

why couldn't they both get the nobel prize *together* ? they published the papers and patents together so the priz should go to the same people it says on there

[@fudgepuppyorangecake]

Aminoglycosides produce nonsense proteins at higher concentrations, and inhibit the 30S ribosomal subunit at lower concentrations (At least that's how I was taught) meaning that Aminoglycosides are Bactericidal at higher concentrations and Bacteriostatic at lower concentrations. Probably why it takes so long to work for TB as aminoglycosides are neurotoxic and nephrotoxic and doctors prefer to only use the minimum required, along with how long lived the TB bacillus is. Important to note that they're synergistic with beta-lactams too, which is particularly useful for infections caused by Listeria and Enterococcus.

[@nicksamek12]

Show this to John Green, he'll love it.

[@Joy-TheLazyCatLady]

Shout out to all the small animals used in science without whom a lot of us would be dead. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I use Clindamycin for skin infections.

[@DrEvilCheezi]

YES ITS HERE

[@PatKellyTeaches]

WAIT NO LONGER!

[@AndDiracisHisProphet]

I am curious. by which metric is TB the most deadly disease of all time?

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Good question! By total number of deaths caused by an infectious disease. While others have held the number #1 spot during epidemic years (COVID briefly took the lead for a while, the Plague would've been #1 during the Black Death), and other diseases have a higher case-fatality rate (Ebola, rabies), TB is the biggest killer historically. Although, some estimates have put malaria higher, I couldn't find a great source for it.

[@AndDiracisHisProphet]

@@PatKellyTeaches interesting. but that metric I would have guessed (but just gut feeling) the number one killer was either malaria or smallpox.

[@anarchy_79]

I love your videos, but I would appreciate if you spoke a little slower. Right now I have playback speed at 75%, just imagine if you'd speak like that- your video would be 30 minutes long too.

[@neville132bbk]

(...glad it wasn't just me.....)

[@Jumboo364]

The way I have a respiratory pathology exam this week 😂

[@jerryclark5725]

A drug company forgiving profit for the common good is a foreign concept to today's corporate masters.

[@KevinButler55]

Yessssssss

[@rishaan668]

W video

[@MitzvosGolem1]

Heros

[@tyrone42ful]

This guy is the sitting image omy best freind..i thought ut him

[@chillphil967]

2:33 “… tuberculosis is the deadliest disease in human history.” really?!? i mean, i believe you, but literally had no idea. TIL

[@gregorymalchuk272]

He must be talking about case fatality rate or something. Because I'm almost certain malaria is much worse in total deaths.

[@RustyShakleford1]

​@@gregorymalchuk272let's just say in the European population

[@damonroberts7372]

The Nobel prizes are inherently politically suspect, founded with the intent of transforming Alfred Nobel's reputation from "merchant of death" to philanthropist. And the selection of prize recipients is political, too. I guess it's nice for the recipients to have their contributions recognised in some form; but the selections are somewhat arbitrary, and may bear no relation to the long term value of the contribution. Case in point, Einstein got his Nobel in Physics for elucidating the photoelectric effect, not General and Special Relativity.

[@Idrinklight44]

Schatz!

[@Briggs-kh8ej]

Waksman was a conman. Schatz invented streptomycin.

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

Was it demonized by religious fanatics for causing autism?

[@MayorMcC666]

americans should be more proud of our medical history

[@Idrinklight44]

Dude, u know more about medicine than fda and fauci

[@halaali8547]

Man, your videos still helpful! But how is it going with life? Haven't you wonder why everything is so perfect? Is it ok to just leave this life to the dust? Or there is some meaning and wisdom behind it? Haven't you feel the need for a God, a superior power that everything originated from? What is the beginning and how The Ending would look like? A lot of questions that will fill your night, you may not enjoy life as you want or expect, happiness will just be a moment and it won't last, and maybe you are trapped in a circle of dopamine. Man you should have a straight prospective for life, a view that makes sense to everything, a new life style. Start from the zero and search for the purpose of the whole exist, you are capable of doing that with that big brain that helps you going that far in medical field. You are not a piece of meat the will ruin! Humble yourself and ask God The One true God for guidance. And ask me any time, life is difficult, may Allah guide you to the right path and grant you ease.