Streptomycin in Pregnancy: Effect on the Foetal Ear.

to streptomycin, it is not entirely clear how far this risk extends to the foetus. Certainly streptomycin does cross the placenta: this was established in 1945 by Woltz and Wiley and independently by Heilman et al. (1945). Subsequent work (Bernhard et al., 1950 ; Riskxer et al., 1952 ; Charles, 1954) confirmed that, although the effectiveness of the placental barrier varies, streptomycin and dihydrostreptomycin (Jacobsen, 1953) are present in foetal blood in up to 500% of maternal concentrations. The effect of these drugs on the foetus was studied experimentally by Risker et al., using guinea-pigs ; no disturbance of