EFFECT OF SULFANILAMIDE AND SULFAPYRIDINE ON HEMOGLOBIN METABOLISM AND HEPATIC FUNCTION

Abstract

Since sulfanilamide has come into general use, a number of reports have appeared indicating that jaundice¹and hemolytic anemia²are toxic effects that may be encountered. One gains the impression from the majority of these reports that such complications are rarely encountered and that they are probably due to drug idiosyncrasy. Long and his associates^1gobserved but 2 patients with jaundice (without hemolytic anemia) among 408 treated with sulfanilamide. In the material from the same clinic, Wood^2bnoted that acute anemia developed in 21 of 522 persons to whom the drug was administered. He found the incidence of anemia to be 8.3 per cent in children as compared with 2.4 per cent in adults. He ascribed the anemia in the 21 cases to hemolysis, because of the abrupt appearance of jaundice and urobilinuria. In 8 additional instances a "slow" type of anemia was encountered, which was similar to that previously