DEATH DURING SULFATHIAZOLE THERAPY

Abstract

With the extensive therapeutic use of sulfathiazole, reports of untoward reactions have appeared in the literature. Many of these have been of a transient nature while others have been more serious and have terminated in death. Cases studied at autopsy have not been many and postmortem observations have been few. Therefore it seems timely to report 4 fatal cases in which sulfathiazole appears to have played an important role and in which lesions attributable probably to the action of the drug were found in various organs. Furthermore, certain definite information has been gleaned whereby the toxic action of this valuable drug may be minimized and fatalities from its indiscriminate use averted. From an experimental point of view, the toxicity of sulfathiazole and its pathologic effects have been studied by Rake, van Dyke, Corwin and their associates,¹ by Long and his associates² and by others.³ These observers found