104 A MANUAL OF THE PENICILLIA 



Diphtheria, especially in horse-serum Acute rheumatic fever 



sensitive patients Hodgkin's disease 



Actinomycosis Acute and chronic leukemia 



Penicillin is not effective in the treatment Ulcerative colitis 



of the following conditions: Coccidioidomycosis 



All Gram-negative bacillary infections: Malaria 



Eberthella typhosa (typhoid fever) Poliomyelitis 



Salmonella schotmulleri (paratyphoid Blastomycosis 



A) Moniliasis 



Shigella dysenteriae (bacillary dysen- Virus infections (with the possible ex- 



tcry) ception of ornithosis and psittacosis) 



Escherichia coli Cancer 



Haemophilus influenzae Penicillin is of questionable value in 



Bacillus proieus mixed infections in which the pre- 



Pseudomonas pyocyaneus dominating organism is Gram-nega- 



Brucella melitensis (undulant fever) ^jyg such as: 



Pasleurella tularensis (tularemia) Ruptured appendix 



Klebsiella pneumoniae (Friedlander's Liver abscess 



bacillus) Urinary tract infection 



Tuberculosis Rat-bite fever due to Streptobacillus 



Histoplasmosis moniliformis 



In the field of veterinary medicine, the most successful application of 

 penicillin has been made in the treatment of bovine mastitis in which the 

 causative organisms were Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, 

 Strep, dysgalactiae, and Strep, uheris (Slanetz and Allen, 1945). Strepto- 

 coccic infections respond to smaller doses than those in which the invad- 

 ing organism is Staph, aureus. The penicillin solution is administered 

 through the teat canal immediately after a milking period, and apparently 

 has no adverse effects on the mammary glands or on the quality of the milk. 



Some investigations have indicated the possible usefulness of penicillin 

 for combating certain plant diseases (Brown and Boyle, 1944 and 1945). 

 Such studies, however, have been limited in number and need to be per- 

 formed on a much more extensive scale before any conclusions can be 

 reached regarding the usefulness of the drug in this field. 



The addition of penicillin to milk and other highly perishable food prod- 

 ucts has been recommended, but its usefulness as a food preservative is 

 questioned by Curran and Evans (1946). Penicillin in low concentrations 

 will inhibit the growth of many bacteria responsible for food spoilage. It 

 is not effective, however, in preventing the growth of other forms often 

 equally responsible. Gram-negative species are usually not affected, and 

 among the Gram-positive forms, which are generally penicillin sensitive, a 

 number of spore-formers, such as Bacillus cereus, produce abundant peni- 

 cillinase which rapidly destroys the drug. While the addition of penicillin 

 may, under certain conditions, extend somewhat the useful life of a product 

 such as milk, the varied microflora normally present precludes its continuing 

 effectiveness. 



