Treatment of bacillary dysentery with special reference to stosstherapy with tetracycline.

so than in the past. In 1959, with an incidence of 6.68 cases per thousand in the Royal Air Force abroad (Air Ministry, 1961), it was the commonest cause of admission to hospital after excluding injuries, acute upper respiratory disease, skin diseases, and non-specific gastroenteritis. In the United Kingdom notifications have risen over the past 20 years, especially in regard to dysentery caused by Shigella sonnei. Taylor (1959) has summarized the history of treatment of bacillary dysentery and reported the results of his own therapeutic trial in 332 cases at this hospital. He found that a six-day course of 125 g. of phthalylsulphathiazole was more effective than supportive measures alone, but that treatment with a combination of absorbable sulphonamides and streptomycin (" streptotriad ") gave still better clinical results. Stosstherapy was the name given by Harnapp (1938) to the method of treatment of rickets by a single massive dose of vitamin D. Later, Gaisford (1951) used the term in the treatment of pneumonia with large single doses of sulphonamides. In Denmark and America the method has been called " shock-dose treatment," and it has been used both in infections and in infestations. The present trial is complementary to that of Taylor (1959) and sets out, firstly, to compare the effectiveness of oral streptomycin treatment with and without sulphonamides, and, secondly, to see whether the period in hospital could be reduced by means of stosstherapy.