USE OF BENZATHINE PENICILLIN G IN CARRIERS OF GROUP A BETA-HEMOLYTIC STREPTOCOCCI

Abstract

• A single injection of 600,000 units of benzathine penicillin G was given intramuscularly to each of 2,913 recruits whose throat cultures had yielded beta-hemolytic streptococci. In 624 of these cases the streptococci were classified as group A, and the single injection of antibiotic resulted in negative cultures for at least one month thereafter in 597 cases. No control group was provided, but it is significant that rheumatic fever did not occur in any recruit who had received an injection of 600,000 units of the antibiotic. Unfavorable reactions, which generally consisted of rash and urticaria, occurred in 25 cases, and only one of these was considered serious. Benzathine penicillin G merits further investigation as a possible single-injection prophylactic agent for the control of streptococcic infections.