1. Chemotherapy with sulfonamide drugs is a valuable addition to the treatment of acute hematogenous osteomyelitis in children, and should be used routinely.
2. The greatest effect of the sulfonamides is on the infected blood stream, which is usually promptly sterilized.
3. The incidence of death and of multiple bone involvement is reduced by routine sulfonamide therapy.
4. In an occasional mild case of acute hematogenous osteomyelitis, the patient may recover by chemotherapy alone without surgery.
5. Well-timed surgical drainage of abscesses and pyogenic granulomata is not supplanted by chemotherapy in the treatment of acute osteomyelitis, and should never be withheld from a patient on the false hope that recovery will result without drainage.