Two years ago the male genito-urinary section of the Washington University Clinics undertook an intensive study of male gonorrhea. Of 474 unselected men applying for treatment during a twenty-two month period only forty-seven (10 per cent) have been lost; 62 per cent have already been cured after satisfying our tests of cure.These include various provocative tests, a minimum of four negative cultures and a period of observation averaging well over four months. Twelve per cent of the group are still under treatment ; the remaining IS per cent have been closed without proof of cure because of reinfections, transfer to other treatment agencies, or other reasons. We have found a type of work sheet most helpful in keeping the clinic personnel acquainted with what was happening to our cases. These charts serve as constant visual reminders to every one concerned of how good any treatment actually is. The personal equation is almost entirely eliminated because of tangible laboratory result or case disposition posted each time a patient is seen at his weekly visit. The almost complete absence of side reactions with sulfamethylthiazole which Dr. Carroll and his co-workers mentioned was particularly striking. Our experiences with side reactions in sulfathiazole have been the same, although we have not been impressed with any correlation between therapeutic response and blood concentration. One of the charts illustrates a method which we are using to check the validity of our results. The percentage of negatives obtained in three different treatment routines has been plotted for a nine week period. The per¬ centage differences have been subjected to the test of significance each week ; i. e., if the difference between two percentages (expressed in standard deviation units) is less than 1.96 the difference is not significant. A difference this large might occur five out of a hundred times merely by chance. If the difference is greater than 2.58 the difference is significant, in that it would occur from chance less than once out of a hundred times. It will be noted in each comparison that the differences are above the significant level between the second and sixth weeks. It is fair to assume that the early differences in thera¬ peutic response can be attributed to the different drugs used and that at or about the sixth week the normal defense mecha¬ nism of the body against the gonococcus becomes the predominant factor in cure.Dr. W. Ray Iones, Seattle : One who has looked into such a bladder remembers that tuberculosis is localized in islands and is not a general infection in the beginning. In urethral gonor¬ rhea infection begins in islands also and is limited. Infection is in that island : Why does it not spread to the touching surfaces ? The infiltration has involved the mucosa and submucosa, so that it is almost one homogeneous mass. Infection is continued ; as one island recovers another reinfects it ; this way one locally may recover and be reinfected several times before there is final complete recovery. A section of a...
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