SECONDARY ANEMIA CAUSED BY SULFONES

To the Editor:—  In the report to the Council on Drugs in The Journal, May 28, page 363, "Current Status of the Therapy of Leprosy," appears the statement, "Secondary anemias caused by sulfones may be corrected by administration of ferrous sulfate alone or supplemented by liver extracts." Preceding this statement there appeared on page 368, in reference to the early work on glucosulfone by Faget and others, the sentence, "Moderate degrees of anemia continued to be frequent but were treated successfully with administration of inorganic iron."This reported response of a drug-induced anemia to the administration of iron seems atypical of general clinical experience with anemias due to chemical agents. Wintrobe makes the following statement on page 639 of his book "Clinical Hematology" (Philadelphia, Lea & Febriger, 1956). "From clinical experience it is also evident that the materials required for blood formation are largely conserved when hemolysis occurs. Treatment with