Calomel Ointment Research Articles

Can Universal Precautions Spread Disease?

In his very informative article about the century-old lessons from syphilis,¹Meyer tells us that "Calomel ointment supplanted the use of carbolic acid, which had been criticized for causing eczema and fissures of the hands, thus enhancing (with welldocumented prophylactic failures) instead of retarding the spread of infection." Meyer also says that "William Halsted (1852 to 1922) requested the Goodyear Rubber Co to make thin rubber gloves to protect his and his nurse's hands from harsh antiseptic solutions used in the operating room." With the new emphasis on washing before and after every patient contact, the same problem may be reappearing. A busy doctor can see 30 patients a day. Will any skin tolerate 60 washings, especially in the winter, when hands tend to crack and bleed? My skin won't, even though I use a scrub that contains lanolin and aloe vera, and I doubt others' will, either, judging

THE USE OF COLLOIDAL CALOMEL OINTMENT IN DERMATOLOGY

Mercury ointments in various forms have long been a standby for the dermatologist. First, metallic mercury ointments were employed, and in recent times the ammoniated mercury ointment has enjoyed tremendous vogue. In the last few years, calomel ointment has been used in the so-called clean inunction method in the treatment of syphilis. Calomel ointment, first prepared in France during the last century, contained 10 per cent of calomel in petrolatum. The British used 20 per cent of calomel in lard. A 30 per cent ointment with white petrolatum was introduced into the National Formulary V (1926) under the name of Ointment of Mild Mercurous Chloride. In N. F. VI (1936) the base was changed to equal parts of white petrolatum and hydrous wool fat. Dr. Lewis C. Britt,1chemist of the Oregon State Board of Pharmacy, first pointed out that the N. F. VI ointment gave a narrower inhibitory

An improved calomel ointment

An improved calomel ointment

The Antiseptic Value of Calomel Ointment N. F. V and N. F. VI

The Antiseptic Value of Calomel Ointment N. F. V and N. F. VI

Shall the State Furnish Calomel Ointment for the Prevention of Syphilis?

Shall the State Furnish Calomel Ointment for the Prevention of Syphilis?

The Reply of Dr. George H. Bigelow, Commissioner of Health, to the Objections to the Distribution of Calomel Ointment by the State Department of Public Health

Correspondence from The New England Journal of Medicine — The Reply of Dr. George H. Bigelow, Commissioner of Health, to the Objections to the Distribution of Calomel Ointment by the State Department of Public Health

THE PROPHYLACTIC USE OF ARSPHENAMIN

Ordinarily, when we speak of prophylactic measures against a syphilitic infection, we mean the application of a 10 per cent. calomel ointment or similar chemical agents that have proved to be very efficacious, but only when employed within about eight hours after cohabitation. According to investigations by Brown and Pearce at the Rockefeller Institute, who have studied the dissemination of spirochetes in rabbits, it has been shown that these were present in regional lymph nodes in less than forty-eight hours after their inoculation. This fact would tend to show that the use of external prophylactic agents, even when used within a few hours, might be too late to prevent a general infection, which has been known to have occurred in spite of the use of these prophylactics in quite a number of instances. Michel and Goodman¹advocate the use of arsphenamin in cases in which one of the persons

EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE PROPHYLAXIS AND TREATMENT OF SYPHILIS

1. By inoculating the scarified surface of both sides of the scrotum of rabbits with suspensions of Treponema pallidum, 100 per cent of infections were obtained on one side or the other. Infection through the unbroken skin could not be produced. 2. By gland transfers from animals with positive local inoculations, 87.5 per cent of takes were produced. 3. These two methods were used to test the prophylactic value of 30 per cent calomel ointment, (a) Calomel ointment proved efficacious up to 8 hours after inoculation with syphilis, (b) No marked difference appeared between the action of calomel in a base of lanolin and vaseline and in a base of benzoinated lard and wax. (c) Death from mercurial poisoning was produced in rabbits by a single application of a large amount of calomel ointment. 4. The method of gland transfers was used to test the sterilizing effect of arsphenamine and neoarsphenamine on old infections in the rabbit. The infection was completely abolished in every instance, whether by one, two, or four intravenous doses. 5. Natural spirochetosis of rabbits need not be a serious complicating factor in work on syphilis in rabbits, for the following reasons. (a) In natural spirochetosis, the lesions occur on the penis and not on the scrotum. Gland transfers are negative, (b) A scrotal lesion can be produced by inoculation, but it can be distinguished from that of Treponema pallidum infection by its course, (c) In studies of generalized syphilis supposed to involve the genitalia, and in sexual transmission experiments, Treponema cuniculi may be a serious complicating factor.

THE ACTION OF RADIUM ON A VARIETY OF CUTANEOUS CONDITIONS

The use of radium in cancer, whether for amelioration of the symptoms or cure of the disease, is so beneficent that it has overshadowed its use in a great number of other affections. In the conditions discussed it has afforded us valuable service. PERSISTENT FISSURES OF THE NARES AND LIPS As the result of catarrh, cracks may form in the nares, especially frequently in the anterior angle. These are often associated with folliculitis of the vibrissae. The usual infective agent is a streptococcus, and it often gives rise to localized attacks of erysipelas, and after a time, to permanent redness of the nose. In fact, it is one of the principal causes of red nose. The best routine treatment is the use of boric acid fomentations, and the employment of a 12 per cent. calomel ointment, under which almost all cases will clear up. Some cases, however, are refractory. A

VENEREAL PROPHYLAXIS: WHY IT SOMETIMES FAILS

Major F. F. Russell and Captain J. H. Nichols, Medical Corps, U.S.Army, recently undertook1to demonstrate the value of calomel ointment, alone and in combination with other antiseptics, as a prophylactic against gonorrhea. Their procedure consisted of injecting the ointment to be tested into the urethras of men suffering from acute gonorrhea after the discharges had been diagnosed as positive by stained smears and growths on ascites agar. The ointment was allowed to remain in the urethra, after injection, about fifteen minutes, then the mucous membrane was washed clean by urination and a drop of the residue expressed into the meatus. This drop was streaked over ascites agar, incubated and suspiciouslooking colonies examined with Gram's stain. Their first experiments were with the tube used in the army containing: Calomel... 25 parts Phenol... 3 parts Camphor...... 3 parts Lanolin... 25 parts Lard enough to make... 100 parts It proved effective in

AURAL MANIFESTATIONS OF SYPHILIS.

Among 2500 consecutive eases treated in the out-patient department for diseases of the ear of the Pennsylvania Hospital there have been but seven in which the trouble was distinctly of syphilitic origin. They were as follows: Case 1. —A man, white, aged 25, a musician, presented himself suffering from undoubted secondary syphilis. There was a very general squamous eruption, and he had lost a large amount of hair. He had a chancre seven months before. There were several large squamous syphilids on his right auricle. These healed completely after a course of mixed treatment, accompanied by the local application of calomel ointment. Case 2. —A woman, white, aged 27, with marked symptoms of tertiary syphilis, had been deaf in the left ear for four years, and had suddenly lost her hearing in the right ear four days before coming to the dispensary. She suffered also since the trouble in her