The results of the penicillin treatment of 1,976 cases of infectious diseases are reported.
See table in the PDF file
Sulfonamide-resistant gonorrhoea responds dramatically to penicillin therapy,—99 per cent. of 1,750 cases were cured by the treatment.
Diseases due to the streptococcus hemolyticus, staphylococcus aureus, clostridium welchii, pneumococcus, meningococcus, and certain other organisms are also favorably affected, although the results are not so striking as in Neisserian infection.
Fifty per cent. of the cases of osteomyelitis appear to have been cured by a combination of penicillin therapy and surgery. Long-standing, chronic cases, in which there is bone sclerosis with deep-seated, walled-off pockets of infection, appear to be less amenable to treatment than acute cases. Adequate, well-planned surgery is still necessary in osteomyelitis.
Although further study will elucidate many points concerning penicillin therapy, it is impossible to maintain an unenthusiastic attitude toward this powerful new remedy. It has already proved itself as a most valuable addition to the armamentarium of the physician and surgeon.