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Volume 346:722 March 7, 2002 Number 10 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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The battle with pneumococcus over the past century is reminiscent of the Hundred Years' War, the struggle between England and France that was interrupted by truces and stalemates. Streptococcus pneumoniae was isolated by Pasteur in 1881 and was soon recognized as the commonest cause of lobar pneumonia. When Dochez and Gillespie divided S. pneumoniae into 4 types (there are currently 90) on the basis of capsular antigens, the fatality rate associated with untreated pneumococcal pneumonia was 33 percent. By 1936, the use of type-specific antiserum reduced mortality to about 18 percent.

Sulfonamides were introduced in the 1930s for the treatment . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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• Dean, N. C. (2003). Encouraging News From the Antibiotic Resistance Front. Chest 124: 423-424 [Full Text]