Reinfection and relapse after treatment of early syphilis with penicillin; analysis of 137 cases of infectious failure in a total series of 1,105 cases.

Abstract

WE use the term (infectious relapse) to describe all cases in which, months or years after treatment with penicillin for early syphilis, patients exhibited dark field positive lesions morphologically typical of primary and/or secondary syphilis. All other types of failures of penicillin therapy were excluded from the study. During the three and one-half years prior to the time of writing, we have collected a sufficient amount of detailed data on 137 cases of infectious failure to enable us to differentiate reinfection and relapse in the majority of instances. Of the 137 cases subjected to critical, detailed collective and individual analysis, the diagnosis of reinfection was made in 80, leaving 57 in the category of relapse (table 1). CLINICAL AND LABORATORY FACILITIES FOR COLLECTING DATA In November 1943, at the beginning of the study of the penicillin therapy of early syphilis, as a specially trained