Agranulocytosis Following Diamox Therapy

The list of medicaments capable of causing agranulocytosis in sensitive persons is steadily increasing. To the list we are adding another, Diamox (2-acetylamino-1,3,4,-thiadiazole-5-sulfonamide), a recently introduced oral diuretic that gives promise of widespread use in the treatment of patients with chronic congestive cardiac failure. REPORT OF A CASE A 66-year-old white woman was admitted to the hospital with vertigo, syncope, numbness of the left hand, weakness, and malaise that had been increasing during the preceding four weeks. In the last four days before admission chills and subacute fever occurred. On admission a blood cell count showed some diminution of the total number of the white blood cells and the presence of three neutrophils, of which only one was a mature form (table 1). The patient's medical history was noncontributory except that she had been treated with Diamox, 250 mg. daily, as an adjunct to digitalis and a low salt diet