EXPERIENCES WITH SULFANILAMIDE THERAPY FOR OTOGENOUS INFECTIONS: WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MASKING OF THE CLINICAL COURSE

With the advent of sulfanilamide, a new form of chemotherapy has resulted in a tremendous advance in the treatment of certain types of otitic infection. The literature is now replete with many theoretic, experimental and practical considerations of the value of this remarkable drug. The outstanding result of its use for otogenous infections is the astounding improvement of the prognosis in conditions, such as meningitis, which hitherto were regarded as utterly hopeless. In the literature before the use of sulfanilamide, recovery in cases of streptococcic meningitis was reported, but it was comparatively rare. In July 1935 Gray 1 presented a summary of the literature on this subject. He found 66 cases of recovery, including his own, reported in the last thirty-five years. He felt that streptococcic meningitis was fatal in at least 97 per cent of cases. In the experience of most otologists the outstanding fact during the greater part of