SYSTEMIC INFECTION DUE TO TORULA HISTOLYTICA (CRYPTOCOCCUS HOMINIS)

Abstract

BECAUSE of the apparent improvement following treatment with sulfadiazine observed in the case reported by Marshall and Teed and in our own case 4 my colleague and I determined to test the efficacy of this substance in experimentally produced infections with Torula organisms. Since iodides have been a time-honored remedy in fungus infections on what seems to be a purely empiric basis, it was thought that they also should be subjected to experimental evaluation. Four species of animals were used, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs and dogs. All species were inoculated at the same time with emulsions of Torula histolytica originally obtained from the spinal fluid culture of case 4. These organisms had been subcultured on Sabouraud's dextrose agar and were suspended in sterile isotonic solution of sodium chloride before injection. The number of organisms injected was standardized by a preliminary enumeration of organisms per cubic millimeter in a standard blood-counting