Weil's Disease in Normandy: Penicillin Treatment

Abstract

to penicillin on subcultivation in laboratory media. It may be that penicillin-resistant staphylococci are an exception to the general rule, and that, consequently, resistant strains of this organism will not appear in clinical practice after more prolonged use of the drug. Summary Two strains of coagulase-positive staphylococci were made penicillin-" fast " by cultivation in increasing quantities of penicillin. They were then subcultured daily in broth without penicillin and, contrary to expectations, a rapid fall in resistance to penicillin was noted. It therefore appears that "fastness" of staphylococci to penicillin is not a permanent characteristic.