1 Department of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT 06032
In Reply.
The report by Nordin1 of one patient with rheumatic fever who had a recurrence during prophylaxis with monthly benzathine penicillin G states in the abstract that this form of prophylaxis "is a real risk." Nordin ignores the documented evidence that benzathine penicillin G has been used to prevent occurrences for more than 30 years and that while it is not 100% effective, it is far superior to any other method. Nordin fails to cite any of the studies of large series of patients with rheumatic fever who were maintained on benzathine penicillin G prophylaxis; such studies show that the risk of a recurrence is very small.2,3