Staphylococcal Endocarditis

Infections due to Micrococcus pyogenes (Staphylococcus) are becoming increasingly difficult to manage because of the remarkable tendency of members of this genus to develop resistance to penicillin and other antibiotics. Although the individual strains vary considerably in this respect, the majority of staphylococci isolated from hospital patients and personnel in several clinics are currently being found to be penicillin-resistant.* During the past few years we have followed the course of several patients with staphylococcal endocarditis. Of interest is a comparison of the results of therapy in this group with a much larger series obtained by reviewing the records of all such cases at the Johns Hopkins Hospital for the past 20 years. This series was divided arbitrarily into three periods. The first was 1933-1943, a time in which no well-established antibiotic treatment was available, although penicillin was used in a few of the later cases in doses which we now