[Critique of the basic elements on which various syphilis treatments are founded]

Certain basic treatments of syphilis depend on the following theories: 1) All treponema divide every 30 to 33 hours. Experiments have shown that this idea is only valid during the phase of exponential growth, i.e. it corresponds to the period lyinü between penetration of the germ into the organism and the onset of the initial lesion. One should also be reserved about a whole series of factors which may interfere with the rate of multiplication of treponema. 2) Blood penicillin levels of 0.03 U./ml. would destroy all treponema during cell division. It seems that the efficacy of penicillin mainly depends on levels, at the time of multiplication of the spirochetes. This level of 0.03 U./ml., according to Eagle, should be considered as an average serum concentration, the concentration of maximum efficacy is much higher, about 0.825 U./ml. In any case, it is not possible to obtain with a single dose, equal for all subjects, fixed and certain penicillin levels. For a given quantity injected, serum levels vary from one subject to another and, in the same individual, from one time to another. 3) The epidemiological results do not seem to confirm the optimistic forecasts of certain venereologists who thought that with a standard therapeutic method, it would be possible to eradicate syphilis.