PEDIATRICS Vol. 8 No. 1 July 1951, pp. 134-138
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THERAPY OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

A Symposium

WALDO E. NELSON M.D.1

1 St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Philadelphia

A word of explanation may be in order in regard to the nature of the program arranged for this panel, since its pattern deviates somewhat from those usually arranged for clinical meetings.

In recent years the introduction of new antimicrobial agents has occurred with such rapidity that emphases have been principally upon which pathogenic organisms were susceptible to the various agents and upon the ranges of effective dosages, the routes of administration and the untoward reactions. Details of acceptable plans of usage of the various therapeutic agents are now common knowledge and are also readily available in the medical literature and in brochures published by the pharmaceutical houses. Other, and as yet unknown, antimicrobial agents will continue to appear and make it necessary for the clinician to be even more discriminating in his selection of therapy than is the case at the moment.

Perhaps of equal importance with the selection of a therapeutic agent is the decision as to whether any artificial assistance is required for the control of a particular infection. If one understood the relationship between the host and a pathogenic parasite at a given moment, he would be in an extremely favorable position to decide whether therapeutic assistance was indicated and even to decide more exactly the nature of that assistance—a clinical utopia.

This program was planned with the idea that those of us whose activities are principally clinical might gain some insight into the thinking and the accomplishments of those who are trying to find out more about the host-parasite relationship and what can be done to help the host control and conquer or live with the pathogenic invader.