Old Treatment May Help Against H-Bug

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29956, 18 October 1962, Page 11

Old Treatment May Help Against H-Bug

A boils and carbuncles treatment developed before World War II but later almost entirely abandoned in favour of antibiotics, has recently been used with 90 per cent, success against penicillinresistant staphylococci (“H--bug”), says Dr. F. Kral, chairman of the research committee of the Canterbury faculty of :he College of General Practitioners, in the New Zealand Medical Journal. The number of cases concerned, however, was insufficient for the treatment to be considered as of proven value, Dr. Kral said. To give

an acceptable indication, a trial would have to be made using 500 to 1000 cases with an equal number of “controls" (patients with similar conditions given alternative treatments). The treatment relies on the combined use of toxoid to counter the toxin produced by the staphylococci, and vaccine to kill organisms themselves, says Dr. Kral. The more important contribution appears to be made by the toxoid. The experimental work was carried out by 42 members of the college in the four main centres. The patients had chronic infections which had not responded to other treatments. Of an initial group of 144 patients with chronic infections, 103 remained after a trial in which each was given a prescribed course of treatment along currently-accepted lines. Laboratory investigations carried out on material from a selection of the patients revealed some strains of staphylococci which were penicillin-resistant and some not, some coagulasepositive and some not. All the penicillin - resistant and /or coagulase - positive strains were from patients who were among the 103 not cured by the prescribed treatment. A group of 84 of the 103 was then given the toxoid-plus-vaccine treatment, and only four of these showed poor long-term response. The other 19 were given vaccine only, and 12 showed poor long-term response. The cases reported by the doctors showed a peak in the 21-50 age-range, and the majority were males.