SUBACUTE BACTERIAL ENDOCARDITIS

Abstract

THE PURPOSE of this paper is to present experience with subacute bacterial endocarditis as it was encountered at the University Hospital, Ann Arbor, Mich., from June 1934 to May 1945. This period begins at a time when no effective treatment was available for this disease, includes the advent of sulfonamide therapy and the more frequently successful combination of sulfonamide compounds with fever induced by administering bacterial vaccine made from the typhoid bacillus, U. S. P., and closes with the effective use of penicillin, resulting in the recovery of the majority of the patients. The case records have been grouped according to the type of therapy used. In addition, they have been analyzed in regard to the occurrence of the various important features of the disease. In some instances the difference in the frequency of common findings from that reported by others may be significant. All patients observed during this period