SUPERINFECTION IN EXPERIMENTAL SYPHILIS FOLLOWING THE ADMINISTRATION OF SUBCURATIVE DOSES OF ARSPHENAMINE OR NEOARSPHENAMINE

Experiments were carried out on rabbits for the purpose of determining the effects of subcurative doses of arsphenamine and of neo-arsphenamine upon the resistance of infected animals to reinoculation with Treponema pallidum and hence the possibilities of the occurrence of a second infection in treated but uncured cases of infection. All the animals used were inoculated with the same virus, and the experimental tests were carried out when the first cycle of testicular reaction was nearing its height. The animals with the most marked testicular lesions were used for the basic experiment of treatment and reinoculation. The results of this experiment were controlled from four different standpoints: (1) the effect of the treatment employed upon the existing infection; (2) the immunity present at the time of treatment; (3) the virulence of the organisms used for reinoculation as compared with those causing the existing infection; (4) the comparative susceptibility of normal animals to the virus used for reinoculation. The results obtained showed (1) that the treatment employed was insufficient to cure any of the therapeutic controls; (2) that the infected controls were highly refractory to a second inoculation; (3) that the treated animals were highly susceptible to a second inoculation and although not cured of their original infection, reacted to the second inoculation with the formation of lesions indistinguishable from those of a first infection; (4) that in certain instances the treatment given had rendered infected animals more susceptible to infection than the normal controls.