CONGENITAL AND ACQUIRED SYPHILIS IN INFANTS AND CHILDREN: TREATMENT WITH MASSIVE DOSES OF ARSENIC INTRAVENOUSLY

The favorable implications of massive dose arsenotherapy of early syphilis in adults by the intravenous drip method focused our attention on the possibility of employing such a method in the treatment of congenital and acquired syphilis in infants and children. The following report is presented to record the results of treatment of 36 infants and children, 32 of whom had congenital syphilis and 4 acquired syphilis, the study extending from August 1940 to the present date. We have attempted to evaluate the efficacy, optimal dosage, technic and toxicologic effects of five day intravenous drip mapharsen therapy. The spirochetosis of congenital syphilis with its widespread changes presents a far more complex problem than the early syphilis of adults. The nutritional and developmental status of the infant has been profoundly altered; growth and metabolism are retarded. Neonatal syphilis calls for, first, exacting pediatric care to save life and, second, antisyphilitic treatment. PLAN