Comparison of Synthetic and Fermentation Chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin) in Rickettsial and Viral Infections

Abstract

Chloromycetin samples prepd. by both synthetic and fermentation procedures were tested in embryonated eggs for rickettsiostatic and virus-tatic effects against the etiologic agents of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, rickettsialpox, murine, epidemic, and scrub typhus, psittacosis and lymphogranuloma venereum. In addition, the chemotherapeutic effects of the 2 prepns. were compared in mice exptly. infected with scrub typhus and in 2 human cases of the disease. Chloromycetin prepd. by chemical synthesis had the same rickettsiostatic and virustatic properties in exptl. infections and the same usefulness in treating patients with scrub typhus as that produced by Streptomyces venezuelae.