Sulfanilamide Therapy in Actinomycosis

As the experience with sulfanilamide enlarges it becomes increasingly apparent that its usefulness covers a wide field. To the long list of diseases favorably affected by its administration has recently been added actinomycosis. Oliver Walker1of Liverpool reported a clinical cure of actinomycosis of the lower part of the abdomen in a man aged 23 in whom the disease developed after an operation for ruptured appendix. Compound solution of iodine and potassium iodide had been given for a brief period, without apparent benefit. Sulfanilamide was then employed in 15 grain (1 Gm.) doses by mouth three times a day for five days, at the end of which time a definite diminution in the discharge was observed and a disappearance of the sulfur granules was noted. So striking was the improvement that after an interval of ten days sulfanilamide therapy was resumed in the same doses for five more days.