CHLORTETRACYCLINE (AUREOMYCIN) IN PREVENTION OF BACTEREMIA FOLLOWING ORAL SURGERY

Abstract

ANYBODY - congenital, or arteriosclerotic heart disease, is a potential candidate for subacute bacterial endocarditis, although only a small percentage of persons actually become affected by this disease. Nineteen patients suffering from subacute bacterial endocarditis were admitted in the years 1947 through 1949 to the New Haven Hospital, only one of three general hospitals in this community. Subacute bacterial endocarditis is still a formidable disease, despite a great advance in treatment with antibiotics, in particular penicillin. In 1940, in the prepenicillin era, 45 persons in Connecticut and 2,531 in the entire United States were reported to have died from subacute bacterial endocarditis. In 1949, when penicillin was readily available for therapy, 10 persons in Connecticut and 1,187 in the entire nation died of this disease, according to the Bureau of Vital Statistics.¹ The actual figures are probably much higher, since subacute bacterial endocarditis is often not recognized. The number of