THE THERAPEUTIC EFFECT OF PARA-AMINOBENZOIC ACID IN LOUSE BORNE TYPHUS FEVER

Abstract

Many efforts have been made to find a substance of therapeutic value in typhus feyer. The papers in the literature which cite the effects of various agents have been discussed in a recent editorial.¹It is our purpose in this report to present the results of the treatment of classic epidemic louse borne typhus fever with para-aminobenzoic acid. The possible therapeutic value of para-aminobenzoic acid was suggested by Snyder, Maier and Anderson,²who reported that the mortality of experimental murine typhus in white mice was reduced by the oral administration of the drug. In their experiments approximately 80 per cent of the untreated control mice died of murine typhus after intraperitoneal inoculation of infected yolk sac suspensions (Wilmington strain),³whereas more than four fifths of the mice which were fed on a ration containing para-aminobenzoic acid survived the same infecting dose of yolk sac. Even when the