Oral aureomycin in the treatment of tropical ulcers and cancrum oris

Abstract

Although the aetiology of phagaedenic tropical ulcer is still uncertain, it is known that a considerable number of different organisms may be present in the foul-smelling pus: prominent among these organisms are Vincent's fusiform bacilli and spirochaetes, accompanied occasionally by diphtheroids and cocci. The great majority of the ulcers are on the legs below the knee, the part of the body most liable to trauma. Similar lesions, however, have been seen on the fingers in three of five cases of human bites and on both n~pples where the breasts had been bitten by a suckling child aged nearly 3 years. The remarkable action of penicillin injections in destroying the bacterial flora of the ulcers and allowing a clean granulating surface to heal was described by FINDLAY, HILL and MACPHERSON (1944). Since then the action of penicillin in tropical ulcer has been fully confirmed. In a preliminary communication, AMPOFO and FINDLAY (1950) briefly described the effects of aureomycin by mouth in four cases of tropical ulcer. Details are now given of the treatment of eight patients with tropical ulcer by aureomycin. In addition, a single case of cancrum otis, also associated with Vincent's organisms, was successfully treated with aureomycin. The patients were all African children from the