Abstract
The reported mortality of pneumococcic pneumonia in patients treated with sulfapyridine has been remarkably low. Yet, in controlled experiments with the drug in pneumococcus-infected mice and rats, the results obtained by different investigators have not been uniformly so striking. Animals used in those studies are species highly susceptible to the pneumococcus. Man, conversely, is relatively resistant and is in that regard, resembled by the dog. O. H. Robertson and coworkers 1 have shown that lobar pneumonia can be produced in the clog, which is in all essential respects comparable to the human disease.
In the present investigation dogs weighing 8 to 15 kg were infected intrabronchially by the method of Robertson and Fox 2 with 1 cc of Type I pneumococcus culture followed by 3 cc of mucin, resulting in a disease 50% fatal in the controls. Sulfapyridine∗ was given orally in capsules or compressed tablets.
Of 24 dogs receiving the first dose of drug 3 to 24 hours after infection, none died (Table I). In 9 instances where serial blood-determinations were made, the content of free sulfapyridine was generally 2 to 6 mg%.
In the group not treated until 18 or 24 hours after infection, one had a bacteremia of 26 colonies per cc of blood at the time of treatment and another had 230. Of the 5 control dogs whose blood at 24 hours contained on culture more than 20 colonies per cc, none survived.
Four additional bacteremic dogs, all but one having a colony count of more than 1,000 per cc of blood were selected for treatment. A total of 5.7 or 6 g of sulfapyridine was given to each, beginning 29 to 72 hours after infection.
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