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The First Use of Penicillin in the United States
IN RESPONSE:
I thank Dr. Ortiz, Dr. Waggoner, and Dr. Jackson for their comments (1–3) on my article (4) describing the first use of penicillin in the United States. Dr. Waggoner was correct: I missed an earlier report by Dawson and colleagues (5), who had used penicillin in the treatment of subacute bacterial endocarditis. The limited amounts available were too small to save any of the patients. Dr. Jackson quotes an article (6) on the use of penicillin on the patient in Yale-New Haven Hospital, which said, “The patient survived, married, and raised a family.” At the time, the patient was 33 years of age and already married to the Yale University athletic director. She had had hysterectomy and bilateral saplingo-oophorectomy during her severe illness, without improvement. She had indeed met Sir Howard Flory.
Perhaps my contribution should have been titled “The First Successful Use of Penicillin in the United States.”
Article and Author Information
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Potential Financial Conflicts of Interest: None disclosed.
