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Observations on 36 patients with general paresis treated with penicillin-malaria and penicillin alone

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Summary and Conclusions

  1. 1.

    Of 36 patients with general paresis, 18 were treated with penicillin-malaria and 18 with penicillin alone.

  2. 2.

    Choice and methods of treatment, as well as complications, were described.

  3. 3.

    The prognosis in the series presented was found to depend mainly on (a) duration of symptoms, (b) degree of intellectual impairment, (c) type of psychosis, (d) combination with tabes, (e) age. These findings confirm often-reported observations by others.

  4. 4.

    Satisfactory clinical results (much improved and improved) were achieved in 61.1 per cent (11 patients) treated with penicillinmalaria and 27.7 per cent (five patients) treated with penicillin alone. Satisfactory serologic results (available for 33 patients only) were obtained in 94.1 per cent (16 of 17 patients) in the combined group and in 81.2 per cent (13 of 16 patients) in the penicillin-alone group.

  5. 5.

    The clinical failure rate was 22.2 per cent (four patients) for the patients treated with penicillin-malaria and 38.8 per cent (seven patients) for the patients treated with penicillin alone; the serologic failure rate was 5.8 per cent (one of 17 patients) and 18.7 per cent (three of 16 patients) respectively.

  6. 6.

    Some superiority of the combined treatment remains even after allowance has been made for factors rendering the composition of the group treated with penicillin-malaria more favorable. Penicillin alone, however, outranks the combined treatment with regard to safety, lack of complications, and ease of administration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hudson River State Hospital, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.

    Werner M. Cohn M. D.

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  1. Werner M. Cohn M. D.
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Cohn, W.M. Observations on 36 patients with general paresis treated with penicillin-malaria and penicillin alone. Psych Quar 27, 637–649 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01562514

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01562514

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