Touched by Dr. Butler's Wisdom

SirI read with particular interest the article by Murray et al. 1 regarding the situation of Dr. Thomas Butler. I completely agree with the main ideas of the article. Dr. Butler, who has spent most of his career studying diseases of underdeveloped countries, has been removed from his post and convicted of charges not related to his original arrest, in what has been considered an unprecedented, unfair, and disproportionate treatment for such a reputable physician and scientist.

Let me tell you that I did not have the privilege of meeting Dr. Butler in person, but I was touched by his wisdom 12 years ago. At that time, I was working as a research fellow at the Clinical Sciences Division of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research in Bangladesh. My colleagues and I were looking for new antibiotics to test in clinical trials against multidrug-resistant Shigella, highly prevalent in the country at that time. Our interest was concentrated on azithromycin, but few data had been published on this drug's effect on enteric infections. I contacted Dr. Butler by fax, requesting advice on the idea of using an azalide against an enteropathogen. His response was immediate; he not only encouraged me to go on but also provided in vitro data from his lab on the matter. With that information, we persuaded the center's scientists to conduct the study. We performed the trial and published the results [2], but more importantly, we added to ciprofloxacin and pivmecillinam a new antimicrobial with which to treat shigellosis in the region. I am sure that none of that would have been possible without Dr. Butler's help.

Dr. Butler has surely helped many fellows like me during his very productive academic career. Our contact was so brief that he might not remember the very valuable advice he provided via fax in 1993, but I would like to support him in this very difficult time of his life. If common sense prevails, he should be back to his previous position so he may continue to help us to fight infectious diseases around the world.

Acknowledgments

Potential conflicts of interest. C.S.: no conflicts.