Chemotherapy of Experimental Toxoplasmosis

Introduction A new antibiotic, spiramycin, isolated fromStreptomyces ambofaciensfound in soil from the north of France was shown by Garin and Eyles1to be effective in the treatment of experimentally induced murine toxoplasmosis. This finding prompted Chodos and Habegger-Chodos to use the drug in a series of 67 patients in this country in 1961.2They concluded that spiramycin was an effective agent for use in posterior uveitis presumably caused byToxoplasmaand suggested that it replace pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine as the treatment of choice in posterior uveitis. Fajardo, Furgiuele, and Leopold,3however, reported a series of 87 patients who had received either spiramycin and steroids, sulfadiazine, pyrimethamine (Daraprim) and steroids, or steroid therapy alone, including in this report many of the cases treated by Chodos and Habegger-Chodos and found that, although spiramycin therapy resulted in quiescence of the posterior uveitis, sulfadiazine and pyrimethamine appeared much more