Abstract
A number of studies have been made to show the curative effect of sulfanilamide in rats, mice, guinea pigs and rabbits, infected with pneumococci by various routes. Because of the difference of opinion concerning the efficacy of the drug in the treatment of infections caused by this microorganism, it was considered timely to investigate further its effects on controlled pneumococcal infection. For this purpose, infection was induced in rabbits by injecting Type I pneu-mococci endermally according to the method of Goodner, 1 which permits accurate observations of the fever, bacteremia and of the lesion produced locally.
The inoculum consisted of 0.1 cc. of a 1:1000 dilution of an 18-hour blood-broth culture injected endermally in the shaved skin of the abdomen. Rectal temperature was recorded twice daily and blood cultures were made daily until the animal died or recovered. In each of 6 sets of experiments, 4 rabbits were studied; 2 animals were treated and 2 served as controls.
For treatment, sulfanilamide (para-amino-benzene-sulphonamide) was chosen in preference to prontosil because previous experience had shown that the latter drug exerted little influence on the course of pneumococcal infection in rabbits. The limited solubility of prontosil requires the injection of larger volumes of fluid than is practical. The sulfanilamide (supplied by E. R. Squibb & Sons) was prepared in 1% solution and was administered by means of a stomach-tube—100 cc. twice in 24 hours. This daily dose is equivalent to a total of 2.0 gm. of sulfanilamide and is well within the limits of that tolerated by rabbits weighing 2 kg. According to Raiziss, Severac and Moetsch, 2 a dose of 1.5 gm. per kilo of body weight was tolerated by 94% of the rabbits, while a dose of 2 gm. per kilo was tolerated by 50% of the animals.
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