Introduction
In this report we wish to present the results of the treatment with penicillin V (phenoxymethyl penicillin) of 110 cases of β-hemolytic streptococcal infections in children. This preparation, although discovered in this country in 1947 and used abroad clinically for several years, first became available for clinical trial in the United States in the spring of 1955. Unlike other penicillin salts, its aqueous solution is relatively stable in the acid secretion of the gastric juice. Consequently it passes through the stomach with little change and shows better absorption from the intestinal tract than is found in other preparations of penicillin.1
Methods
All cases were examined by one of us, and a throat culture which grew β-hemolytic streptococci was obtained prior to or at the onset of treatment. In a moderate number of children the culture was repeated within a few days of the beginning of therapy. At the