High Doses of Penicillin in the Treatment of Gonorrhoea: Results of Treatment Correlated with the Sensitivity Patterns of the Causative Gonococcal Strains.

Gonococcal strains less sensitive to penicillin have been found in a high proportion of patients failing to respond to penicillin treatment (Curtis and Wilkinson, 1958; Reyn, 1961; Gjessing and Odegaard, 1 962a; Laird, 1963; Klaschka, Hannemann, and Ranike, 1963). In a series of female patients treated with two injections of 1 2 mega units procaine penicillin on consecutive days, the treatment failed in 4 per cent. of those infected with penicillin-sensitive strains and in 51 per cent. of those infected with strains resistant to streptomycin and less sensitive to penicillin. This difference was not found if the treatment consisted of four doses of 1 * 5 mega units given during 2 days (Rantasalo, Tammilehto, and Wallenius, 1962). A possible measure to prevent the spread of the less sensitive strains of gonococci would be the use in all cases of a dosage high enough to cure those infected with the less sensitive strains. The present paper reports the results of treating both female and male gonorrhoea patients with high doses of penicillin.