STREPTOMYCIN IN OCULAR INFECTIONS

Abstract
The adoption of streptomycin for the treatment of various infections caused by organisms either insensitive or resistant to sulfonamide compounds and penicillin has aroused much interest among ophthalmologists. Streptomycin has been shown by in vitro and in vivo experiments to be bacteriostatic against certain gram-positive organisms as well as against a wide variety of hitherto resistant gram-negative forms. The literature on the use of streptomycin in ocular infections is extremely meager. Owens1 reported 1 case of a severe corneal infection caused by Escherichia coli, which responded satisfactorily to the local application of streptomycin. Alberstadt and Price2 treated 9 patients with corneal infections with streptomycin applied locally. In spite of the fact that adequate bacteriologic data were unobtainable, they concluded that the addition of this antibiotic to the usual form of treatment definitely shortened the healing time. Experiments undertaken by Leopold and Nichols3 have demonstrated that streptomycin appears