THE PLACE OF SULFANILAMIDE IN CHEMOTHERAPY

The recent review of Marshall¹ on the pharmacology of sulfanilamide correlates a vast amount of experimental work dealing extensively with the experimental results which form the basis for the intelligent use of sulfanilamide and related drugs in certain bacterial diseases. Interest in the search for drugs as bacterial chemotherapeutic agents was aroused thirty-five years ago by Ehrlich's results in chemotherapy. Marshall points out however that, despite the advances which have been made in the chemotherapy of protozoan infections since Ehrlich's time, the development of greatest practical importance in bacterial chemotherapy was the introduction, within the last few years, of drugs containing the sulfonamide group. Neoprontosil and sulfanilamide were at first thought to be specific against the beta-hemolytic streptococcus; however, subsequent investigation has indicated that these drugs or allied compounds may be effective against infection due to several different genera of bacteria. The efficacy of sulfanilamide in experimental mouse infections