In 1952, Sir John was appointed chairman of the department of respiratory diseases and tuberculosis at the University of Edinburgh, amid a tuberculosis epidemic in Scotland. Three years earlier, researchers in Britain reported that combining streptomycin with a newer medicine, para-aminosalicylic acid, could reduce the development of drug resistance. To this mix, Sir John added isoniazid, a new drug that became available shortly after his arrival in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n
The third drug was the charm. Through careful monitoring, he devised a regimen that called for starting patients on all three drugs and then stopping streptomycin, which can cause hearing loss, after several months. For more than a decade, until it was replaced by a cocktail of newer and more powerful drugs, Sir John\u2019s three-drug regimen was the standard treatment for tuberculosis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe treatment principles he developed are the ones we are using today,\u201d\u009d said Dr. Mario C. Raviglione, director of the World Health Organization\u2019s Stop TB department. \u201cThey are the model for cancer and for H.I.V. His legacy is quite significant.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n