Treatment of systemic blastomycosis with 2-hydroxystilbamidine.

Abstract

PRIOR to the introduction of stilbamidine in the treatment of systemic blastomycotic infections, by Schoenbach and co-workers,* there had been no generally effective therapy for this disease, although administration of iodides in conjunction with desensitization has been reported to have been successfully used in the treatment of some cases.3Elson's observation that certain diamidines exerted a fungistatic effect upon Blastomyces dermatitidis4led to the clinical trial of stilbamidine in patients who had systemic blastomycotic infections. The therapeutic results obtained in the treatment of this disease were excellent.† Subsequently, Snapper and co-workers treated patients with extensive blastomycotic infections with 2-hydroxystilbamidine with good results.‡ Stilbamidine is one of the aromatic diamidines which has been used effectively in the treatment of kala-azar. However, because of undesirable sequelae developing in patients treated with this drug, it has been replaced to a great extent by propamidine, a less effective agent in the