Abstract
Summary
Osteomyelitis was produced experimentally in white rats by inoculating the bone marrow of the tibia with Staph. aureus. About 21 days were allowed for the development of typical lesions. One group of 14 animals was treated by the subcutaneous injection of 600 units of penicillin every 2 hours for 9 days. Six of these apparently recovered during the course of the treatment. In a second experiment 13 animals were each given 900 units of the drug every hour for an equal period of time. Again 6 of the lesions were found to be healed at the termination of the injections. Of a total of 25 untreated controls only one animal showed evidence of recovery. It is concluded that penicillin has value as a systemic therapeutic agent in the treatment of the experimental disease, and that the rat is a suitable animal for the study of the course of experimental osteomyelitis and the evaluation of therapy.
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