x,B1 DuMez: Emetine in Treatment of Entamebiasis 15 
However, the results which he obtained upon giving it hypo- 
dermically more than repaid him for his trouble. He advocates 
giving it in normal salt solution in doses of 0.03 to 0.04 gram 
(representing from about 2.6 to 4 grams of ipecac) to adults 
and 0.02 gram to children of about 8 years of age. He reports 
that on several occasions as much as 0.06 gram was adminis- 
tered two or three times a day without the development of any 
untoward symptoms, and that, even in the fullest doses, the drug 
never produced sickness and rarely any nausea. The compar- 
ative results obtained by Rogers with the old ipecac treatment 
and the new emetine are shown in Table I. 
TABLE I.—Showing the results obtained in cases of dysentery treated with 
ipecac and with emetine hydrochloride. 



Died. ; Discharged. 
Treatment. t oe 
| Within | After |Ofother| Very Not Gured ae 
| 3 days. | 3days. | diseases. bad. cured. A 
Mpecse Sa iene Ge uonoss 4 (hal ca eel 2 4 13 30 
| Emetine hydrochloride__ PEN a ete ea ed 7 ih aoe e TS Ss Beh) 21 25 





The observation of Rogers have been corroborated in a meas- 
ure by Baermann’®? and others. Baermann found the drug 
most efficacious if the first 1 or 2 doses were given intraven- 
ously in quantities of from 150 to 200 milligrams (the maximum 
dose being 250 milligrams per 60 kilograms of body weight), 
the intravenous injections being followed by 4 or 5 subcutaneous 
injections of from 100 to 200 milligrams at two- or three-day 
intervals, and the latter treatment again repeated at intervals 
of three or four weeks. 
Notwithstanding the fact that emetine hydrochloride, as a 
general rule, has yielded good results in the treatment of enta- 
mebiasis in comparison with those obtained through the use of 
ipecac, there still appears to be an opportunity for improvement 
in the present form of treatment. Very often negative results 
are obtained, even with the administration of emetine. Whether 
this is due to an impurity ™ in the alkaloid as obtained on the 
market or whether it is due to our inability to bring the remedy 
in contact with the entamcebe in the proper concentration for a 
* Miinchen. Med. Wochenschr. (1918), 50, 1132. 
“ Five different commercial samples of emetine hydrochloride examined 
in this laboratory showed the presence of cephaéline when tested with 
Freehde’s reagent. As cephaéline has been shown to be much more irri- 
tating than emetine, this condition of the commercial salt may be significant. 
