ERYTHROMYCIN FOR INFECTIONS DUE TO MICROCOCCUS PYOGENES

Abstract

One of the most important current problems in the therapy of infectious disease is the management of infections due to strains of Micrococcus pyogenes (Staphylococcus aureus) that are resistant to many antibiotics. We have attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of erythromycin in the treatment of such infections. Although we have used erythromycin in a variety of infections due to organisms susceptible to its action, this report is concerned only with the results obtained with its use in M. pyogenes infection. In most of these cases the organisms were relatively insensitive to penicillin, streptomycin, aureomycin, and oxytetracycline (Terramycin). There are indications that in the constant changes that are occurring in the bacterial population many strains of M. pyogenes are naturally or have become resistant to penicillin, streptomycin, aureomycin, and oxytetracycline; for example, it was evident in a report from the Mayo Clinic by Needham and Nichols¹ that 60% of the