The remedies employed in this form of treatment are quite varied ; for example, colloidal silver or anti-typhoid vaccine in jected into a vein; milk or turpentine injected into the muscles. They have the immediate effect of raising the patient's tempera ture and by the next day there is usually a definite improvement in the symptoms.
Another form of treatment which has been in use by a few for a number of years but is only now becoming more general is diathermy. (See ELECTRO-THERAPY.) The principle of its use in gonorrhoea and its complications is that the gonococcus is very sensitive to heat, being killed at temperatures which are supported with comparative ease by human tissues.
Good results have been obtained in gonorrhoea of females by this method, but undoubtedly its best effects are in epididymitis and in gonorrhoeal rheumatism in men. In gonorrhoeal rheuma tism and iritis the reservoir from which the joints and eyes are continually being infected is commonly in the prostate and the seminal vesicles, both situated at the base of the bladder. The current is applied by means of an electrode placed in the rectum and is increased in strength until the patient feels the part becom ing uncomfortably hot.
When a bubo forms in the groin, a comparatively rare event under modern practice, it is more usual now to attempt to secure resolution by protein-shock therapy (see Gonorrhoea, above) and by aspiration of the abscess followed by injection into the abscess cavity of some drug which will lead to the destruction of the germs.
the Wassermann and allied tests of blood and cerebrospinal fluid for the presence of syphilis the article WASSERMANN REACTION should be consulted.
Great strides have been made in treatment since 1910 when Ehrlich introduced dioxy-diamino-arsenobenzol dihydrochloride, commonly known as "6o6" or salvarsan (q.v.), as a remedy for syphilis. The effect of a single dose of this remedy is usually to cause the spirochaetes to disappear from the discharge of syphilitic sores in 24 hours and syphilitic lesions heal with a rapidity which was a source of great wonder to those who had toiled in the treatment of syphilis with the help of only mercury and prep arations of iodine.
The original preparation has largely been supplanted by a com pound introduced by Ehrlich in 1912 under the name of neosal varsan or "914," which is much more convenient to use and less disturbing to the patient than was the original preparation. These advantages are somewhat offset by a lower therapeutic activity of the newer preparation. Combinations of arsenobenzol with silver and with zinc are also used. The manufacture of arsenobenzol preparations spread during the War into the hands of a number of firms each of which has attached to the same chemical com pounds trade names of their own to an extent which may be some what bewildering to the uninitiated.
Every arsenobenzol compound is made in batches each of which receives a distinctive mark and must pass a certain test of toxicity and of therapeutic activity before it can be issued to the public. The testing in Great Britain is carried out by the Medical Research Council. Experience has shown that, although the arsenobenzol preparations act very promptly, a number of injections in succes sive courses must be administered to secure eradication of syphilis and that it is advisable to supplement them by administering another metallic compound.
Arsenobenzol will not penetrate into the nerve tissue of the brain, and this limitation has led to the introduction of an arsen ical preparation of another order, viz.: tryparsamide or n-phenyl glycine-amido-p-arsonic acid into the therapy of locomotor ataxy and general paresis. The results show generally that tryparsamide is valuable for this purpose.