Subacute Bacterial Endocarditis Due to Streptococcus Viridans

Previous to the advent of the sulfonamide drugs recovery from Streptococcus viridans subacute bacterial endocarditis was exceedingly rare (table 1). The incidence of spontaneous cure, averaging all reported group studies, is 1 per cent.¹Libman's series²of 150 patients with 3 per cent spontaneous recovery is the most favorable report. Lichtman and Bierman¹have recently compiled the serial studies of six workers comprising a total of 634 patients. There were six spontaneous recoveries in this group. All patients in these groups were studied before the sulfonamide era. Interest in the treatment of this almost universally fatal disease and enthusiasm over the newer therapeutic procedures with the sulfonamides have given rise to many reports in the literature in recent months. In the earlier part of the sulfonamide era (1936 to 1939) chemotherapy was used without such adjuncts as heparin, neoarsphenamine and hyperpyrexia. During this period, 198 patients were