SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC SHOCK—THE HUGH YOUNG REACTION

Abstract

In 1924 Young and Hill 1 described the remarkable clinical behavior of a few patients who responded favorably to the intravenous injection of mercurochrome. One of these, a man weighing about 68 Kg., had pyelonephritis and septicemia with heavy growth of colon bacilli in the blood culture. On Jan. 3, 1923, an intravenous injection of 34 cc. of a 1 per cent solution of mercurochrome was given. The temperature rose to 104 F. at midnight, but in six hours it had dropped to 97 F. The patient became rational, and on the next morning his condition was marvelously transformed, his temperature was normal, and his blood was sterile. He was discharged well on January 10. Another man, weighing 59 Kg., with staphylococci in the blood stream, was given 10 cc. of a 1 per cent solution of mercurochrome intravenously. Following this, he had a chill, a rise of temperature above