TREATMENT OF PRIMARY ATYPICAL NONBACTERIAL PNEUMONIA WITH AUREOMYCIN

Primary atypical nonbacterial pneumonia has been reported with increasing frequency during the past fifteen years.¹ This disease has since received particular attention. The intensive studies on disease of the respiratory tract conducted during World War II served to differentiate "primary atypical pneumonia" from similar pulmonary infections of established bacterial, viral or rickettsial causes.² Clinically, diseases caused by the viruses of influenza, psittacosis, ornithosis and the rickettsiae of Q fever resemble atypical pneumonia.² No causative agent has been isolated from patients suffering from this disease, although pooled sputum from patients has been shown to be capable of inciting the disease in human volunteers, even after it was passed through Corning sintered glass or Seitz filters.³ At present, there is no specific laboratory procedure available for confirming the clinical diagnosis. It has been noted that cold hemagglutinins and agglutinins for Streptococcus MG often develop in the serum of