Sulfapyridine and Serum Therapy in Experimental Lobar Pneumonia of Rats

Abstract

Summary

A combination of type-specific serum, administered intraperitoneally, and sulfapyridine, administered by stomach tube, was more efficacious in the treatment of experimental lobar pneumonia of rats than either alone, when treatment was begun within 4 hours after infection. The optimal dose of sulfapyridine under the conditions of our experiments was 0.5 to 1 g per kilo of rat per day. After the infection was well established, following intrabronchial insufflation of relatively large doses (0.1 cc of 10⁻⁴ and 10⁻⁵ of 18-hour bouillon cultures) of pneumococci, serum was more efficacious than sulfapyridine in preserving life, but a combination of the 2 did not show a significant reduction in mortality even with the smaller infecting dose.