THE CHEMOTHERAPY OF EXPERIMENTAL HEMOLYTIC STREPTOCOCCAL INFECTIONS WITH GOLD SALTS

¹ From the Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, and the Edward Daniels Faulkner Arthritis Clinic, Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York

Auro sodium thiomalate possesses marked chemotherapeutic properties against experimental hemolytic streptococcal infections in mice. Administered subcutaneously in a single dose of 2 mgm. this gold compound protects the majority of animals infected with 1,000 lethal doses of culture. Some chemotherapeutic effect is demonstrable with amounts as small as 0.5 mgm. The gold salt is most effective when administered simultaneously with, or shortly after, intraperitoneal infection. The acute toxic dose for white mice is at least 10 times the effective therapeutic dose. Auro sodium thiomalate has a marked bacteriostatic effect against hemolytic streptococci "in vitro."