IME does not permit for a review of the literature on the treatment T of viral and rickettsia1 infections with chemical and antibiotic substances. The results of such investigations have been reported recently by several groups of workers.In this preliminary report are presented some of the data obtained with the newly described antibiotic, Aureomycin, in experimental infections of embryonated eggs, mice, and guinea pigs with the agents of lymphogranuloma venereum, psittacosis, murine typhus, epidemic typhus, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Q fever, rickettsialpox, and scrub typhus.
Materials and MethodsIn most instances the antibiotic was resuspended in one-twentieth molar phosphate buffer pH 7.0. Buffered suspensions of this type, conttining 5 mg. of Aureomycin per ml., have a final p H of 6.8. Any solution left over mas usually discarded, although subsequent studies indicate that if the unused material is frozen immediately, the potency appears unimpaired for at least 2 weeks.Chemotherapy Experiments in Eggs. The following method was used to determine if the chemotherapeutic agent under investigation showed antiviral or antirickettsial activity. Seven-day-old embryonated hens' eggs were inoculated into the yolk sac with 0.2 ml., containing the desired dosage of Aureomycin. The control group received the samc amount of buffered saline. Thirty minutes later all groups of eggs were reinjected into the yolk sac with 0. I ml. of the various ten-fold dilutions of infectious inoculum. All dilutions of the infectious inoculum mere made with cold 0.1 per cent casein solution, pH 7.0, and all inociilum dilutions were kept refrigerated until used. All eggs were sealed with collodion, stored in an incubator at 96" F. and candled a t least once a day for a total of 13 days.In most instances, deaths of embryos before the fourth day were considered to be non-specific and were not included in the analysis of the results. All embryos dying on the fourth day and thereafter were thoroughly examined for the presence of elementary bodies or rickettsiae, using yolk-sac or amniotic-sac smears stained by the Macchiavello method. All embryos surviving after the 13th day were examined in the same manner. 290 1 Wong & Cox: Rickettsia1 & Viral Infections 291Chemotherapy Experiments in Mice. Swiss albino mice, weighing from 14 to 16 grams, were infected by the intracerebral or intraperitoneal route with 0.03 ml. or 0.25 ml., respectively, of an appropriate dilution of infectious inoculum. Aureomycin was administered to mice by mouth or injected subcutaneously, usually in a single dose given once a day. Mice treated orally were given the drug by means of a 1 or 2 ml. tuberculin syringe fitted with a round-end 18 gauge needle, 1% inches long. The mice were grasped firmly by the back of the head and turned over with the head, slightly elevated, held away from the operator. The full length of the needle was slid slowly past the esophagus into the stomach and the required amount of Aureomycin was then given.
Chemotherapy Experiments in GuineaPig...
