ADRENOCORTICOTROPIC HORMONE AND ADRENAL STEROIDS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

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Abstract
Adrenocorticotropin and the corticosteroids subdue inflammation and suppress toxicity in patients having ''infectious diseases. Diseases in which the clinical courses were favorably altered by steroids include tuberculosis, acute rheumatic fever, typhoid fever, brucellosis, trichinosis, viral hepatitis, mumps orchitis and infectious mononucleosis. Adrenal insufficiency may participate in the peripheral vascular collapse and shock that occur in bacteremic states, particularly in those caused by Gram-negative bacteria. Adrenocorticosteroids may be used advantageously in such patients, along with antibiotics and pressor agents. Severe hypersensitivity reactions, involving the skin, vessels, joints and bone marrow, which are induced by therapeutic agents, including the sulfonamides and antibiotics, can be promptly controlled by administration of the corticosteroids. It is emphasized that corticotropin and the corticosteroids have profound metabolic effects upon the human organism, and when used in the management of infectious diseases these agents should be given for only brief periods of time, and only to carefully selected patients.