Is penicillin therapy always infallible in syphilis?

Penicillin is undoubtedly the antibiotic most effective on Treponema pallidum, but is it possible to prescribe it according to a standard regimen? Experimentation proves that such a uniform therapeutic plan cannot be determined for the following reasons: 1) Treponema pallidum may divide every 30 to 33 hours, but this concept is only established during the period of exponential growth in the initial lesion. Moreover, if Treponema pallidum are very quickly disseminated throughout the organism, then they do not divide at the same rate. In addition, we take into account a whole series of factors which can interfere with their rate of multiplication. 2) A penicillinemia of 0.03 U/ml may kill all the Treponema pallidum when they divide, but Dr. Eagle's data, although this would be a fairly active serum level, showed that the effective maximal serum concentration should be far higher, about 0.820 U/ml. The experimental data prove it is not possible to point out an accurate correlation between blood and tissue levels; thus, the penicillin levels in the cerebrospinal fluid are about 1/100 lower than those obtained in the serum. Among other factors it is necessary to take into account not only the age of the patient but also the penicillin complex chosen. Although the total of injected penicillin can be the same, the kinetics of serum levels are essentially variable, both regarding the increase of levels and duration according to the drug used. 3) As noted it follows that penicillinotherapy prescribed early with high and prolonged doses may allow a bacteriologic sterilization of primary syphilis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)