AUREOMYCIN AND ITS EFFECT IN EARLY STAGES OF SYPHILIS: A Preliminary Report

Aureomycin, one of the newer antibiotics first described by Duggar,1 has been shown to be active against certain viruses and rickettsia,2 gram-positive and gram-negative micro-organisms,3 and to be even more effective than penicillin in experimental spirochetal infections, namely: relapsing fever (Borrelia novyi) and spirochetal jaundice, or Weil's disease (Leptospira icterohemorrhagiae).4 This last-mentioned observation by Heilman prompted O'Leary, Kierland and Herrell5 to investigate the effect of aureomycin on Treponema pallidum in man. It was concluded on the basis of a study in 2 patients with syphilis in an early stage that "aureomycin appears to have some anti-spirochetal activity when administered by the oral route."On March 1, 1949 a study was initiated at the Chicago Intensive Treatment Center concerning aureomycin and its effect in early infectious dark fieldpositive syphilis. Twenty-seven patients had been treated by May 5, 1949. All patients in the study had dark field-positive