SPECULATIONS AS TO THE THERAPEUTIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PENICILLIN BLOOD LEVEL
Authors: H S EAGLE
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (1948)

Article1 February 1948SPECULATIONS AS TO THE THERAPEUTIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PENICILLIN BLOOD LEVELHARRY EAGLEHARRY EAGLESearch for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-28-2-260 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptI. THE DIRECT BACTERICIDAL ACTION OF PENICILLINPenicillin is actively bactericidal in vitro1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; and although the body's cellular or humoral defense mechanisms probably play a contributory rôle in vivo, that direct bactericidal action may be largely responsible for the therapeutic activity of the drug.The susceptibility of a given organism to penicillin may be defined in terms of three concentrations (figures 1 and 2; cf. also2, 6, 7). The first is that which suffices only to reduce the normal rate of multiplication, and is illustrated by curve 0.004 in figure 1 and point A...Bibliography1. 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FLEMINGYOUNGSUCHETROWE AMYJAJ: Penicillin content of blood serum after various doses of penicillin by various routes, Lancet, 1944, ii, 621-624. CrossrefGoogle Scholar35. EAGLE H: The duration of penicillin action in vivo, and a consideration of the optimum time-dose relationship, in preparation. Google Scholar36. ARNOLDMAHONEY RCJF: Personal communication. Google Scholar37. EAGLETUCKER HHA: The effect of serum on the in vitro bioassay of penicillin, 1948, in preparation. Google Scholar38. TILLETTCAMBIERMCCORMACK WSMJJE: The treatment of lobar pneumonia and pneumococcal empyema with penicillin, Bull. N. Y. Acad. Med., 1944, xx, 142-178. Google Scholar This content is PDF only. To continue reading please click on the PDF icon. Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Baltimore, Maryland*Presented in part at the annual meeting of The American College of Physicians, April 29, 1947, at Chicago, Illinois.From the Laboratory of Experimental Therapeutics of the U. S. Public Health Service and The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore 5, Maryland. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics Cited byAntibiotics and traumaSusceptibility and resistance emergence studies with macrolidesMouse Subcutaneous Cotton Thread ModelDoes the Degree of Penicillin Susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae Affect the Bactericidal Activity of Co-Amoxiclav Versus Oral Cephalosporins at Physiological Concentrations? 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