A clinical and serological follow-up of Yaws cases treated by acetylarsan and bismuth sodium potassium tartrate

The results are described of a clinical and serological follow-up of yaws cases treated from 6 to 30 months previously by acetylarsan and bismuth sodium potassium tartrate (B.S.P.T.) alone and in combination. B.S.P.T. was shown to be relatively ineffective. Acetylarsan was very effective in clearing lesions and in preventing active relapses for years, though over one-third of the cases continued to show minor plantar irregularities probably attributable to yaws. In one area the proportion of cases with negative Kahn reactions 6 months after treatment with courses containing acetylarsan was 17 per cent., though 43 per cent. gave reactions of less than one plus. In another area in which cases were tested from 6 to 30 months after treatment, the corresponding figures were 32 per cent. and 66 per cent. It is concluded that acetylarsan in the doses given probably cured in the neighbourhood of one-third of the cases and rendered the majority of the remainder quiescent for an indefinite though prolonged period. The correspondence between the Ide and the Kahn tests was not sufficiently close in previously treated cases to justify reliance on the former.