THE increasing availability of penicillin, and more recently of streptomycin, has led to the less frequent use of the sulfonamide compounds as ocular therapeutic agents. In several instances these antibiotics are superior to the sulfonamide compounds. Penicillin is locally effective in the presence of purulent material. It is very effective against ocular infections due to many gram-positive organisms, and streptomycin is effective against several gram-negative organismal infections.
There are many occasions, however, when the so-called antibiotics will not be helpful. Organisms become resistant to the effects of penicillin, and especially to streptomycin. These agents rapidly lose their potency when not kept under refrigeration, particularly when in solution. Some patients acquire hypersensitivity to penicillin or streptomycin. In any of these predicaments the substitution of one of the sulfonamide drugs might be beneficial.
Although it is not universally accepted,1 there is evidence that the sulfonamide compounds are effective as bacteriostatic agents