[Microbiological substantiation of the use of erycycline in the therapy of chronic pyoderma]

Sensitivity to tetracycline, erythromycin and erycycline was studied in 60 strains of Staph. aureus isolated from the foci of chronic pyoderma and nasopharynx of 30 patients suffering from chronic relapsing pyoderma for 2-5 years. The isolates were 2.6 and 3.2 times more sensitive to erycycline than to erythromycin and tetracycline, respectively. This substantiated the advisability of erycycline use in combined therapy of patients with chronic pyoderma. The staphylococcal strains isolated from the nasopharynx were less sensitive to the antibiotics than the strains isolated from the foci of the skin affection which must explain prolonged persistence of staphylococci in the nasopharynx in spite of the antibiotic use in a dose sufficient for elimination of the microorganism affecting the skin. This might be also the cause of pyoderma relapses. It is concluded that the dose of the antibiotic used for sanation of the nasopharynx in patients with chronic pyoderma should be higher than that for elimination of the pustulous process on the skin.