TERRAMYCIN, CHLORAMPHENICOL AND AUREOMYCIN IN ACUTE BRUCELLOSIS

Abstract
Until the advent of the antibiotics, the therapy of brucellosis was viewed with defeatism.1The introduction of the sulfonamides and subsequently of penicillin engendered hopes for the control of this protean disease.2However, it was soon found that these agents were only moderately effective in controlling the acute symptoms and were ineffective as curative agents. The use of streptomycin alone, or combined with a sulfonamide, gave the first genuine promise of effective treatment.3Immediate clinical response was good, and relapses were significantly reduced. Toxicity, however, was serious. Subsequent studies with aureomycin,4and chloramphenicol,5indicated even more rapid response and relatively negligible toxic manifestations. Reported relapse rates ranged up to 22 per cent. In a more recent study of the use of chloramphenicol in brucellosis, Knight and his associates6reported six relapses in a series of 13 patients. When terramycin hydrochloride became available, in vitro