Bacterial Endocarditis: The Process of Healing

ALTHOUGH bacterial endocarditis has been recognised as a separate disease entity since Ormerod (1851) described the vegetations of bacterial endocarditis and showed how they differed from rheumatic verruc.ee, several problems remain unsolved. Following the advent of the sulphonamide drugs and the antibiotics, the problems in connection with healing have become increasingly important. In the later 1940's the proportion of treated cases reaching a successful issue gradually increased, but failures still occur. A lack of careful preliminary bacteriological investigation and carelessness with the details of treatment would appear to account for some of the failures, but a considerable number remain unexplained. With these considerations in mind, it appears important to study the cellular process of healing.