TREATMENT OF EARLY SYPHILIS WITH PENICILLIN

Excerpt

In a previous paper¹ we presented the results of the treatment of early syphilis with the twenty-six weeks' oxophenarsine hydrochloride—bismuth schedule which was adopted by the Army in July 1942. It was shown that this schedule was of relatively low toxicity and yielded a high proportion of satisfactory therapeutic results. Its eventual replacement as the standard therapeutic procedure came about mainly because it failed to meet Army requirements for a short intensive schedule for soldiers under field or combat conditions and because of the demonstration that penicillin was a potent antisyphilitic agent.

Encouraged by the pioneer experiments of Mahoney, Arnold and Harris,² the extensive investigations of the Subcommittee on Venereal Disease, National Research Council³ and certain pilot studies within the Army,⁴ the Surgeon General in 1944, on recommendation of the National Research Council, instituted penicillin treatment for all soldiers with early or latent syphilis. The schedule