Abstract
THE second edition of the Medical Research Council's War Memorandum No. 10, entitled “The Medical Use of Sulphonamides” (H.M. Stationery Office, 1945. Is. 3d. net), by various authors and edited by F. Hawking and F. H. K. Green, incorporates the advances made since the first edition was published in 1943 in our knowledge of the uses of sulphonamides, and includes sections on the use of three of the many sulphonamides which have been introduced since the first edition of the memorandum was printed. These are sulphamerazine, phthalyl-sulphathiazole (also called sulfathalidine ; see also Lancet, 544, April 22, 1944) and marfanil (also called sulphabenzamine, which was used extensively by the German army and is now being manufactured by R. F. Reed, Ltd., Barking, Essex ; see also Nature, 153, 707 ; 1944 and 154, 795 ; 1944). Reference to a few additional members of the sulphonamide group of drugs is made under the headings of the infections for which they have been recommended. A section dealing with the relationships between penicillin and sulphonamide treatment is a useful addition to the memorandum. The spheres of action of these two forms of treatment overlap, and the notes given in this memorandum indicate the conditions which should be treated with sulphonamides and those for which penicillin, if it is available, should be used. The authors of the memorandum think that, when more penicillin can be obtained, it will replace sulphonamide more frequently, because it is usually more effective against infections which are also susceptible to sulphonamides. The memorandum states, for example, that penicillin has revolutionized the treatment of gonorrhoea, so that the instructions given for the sulphonamide treatment of this infection apply only when penicillin cannot be obtained or when the response to it has been unfavourable. A valuable minor feature of the memorandum is its list of the synonyms of the various sulphonamides.
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Medical Use of Sulphonamides. Nature 157, 580 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/157580c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/157580c0