Progress in antimycotic chemotherapy 1945-1980

Before 1950 no reliable or safe therapy existed for systemic and invasive mycoses, and only traditional and empirical topical preparations were available for dermatomycoses. Two distinct eras of rapid progress in antifungal therapy followed: first, in the 1950's came the introduction of the polyenes, nystatin and pimaricin for cutaneous, vaginal and intestinal candidiasis, and amphotericin B for the treatment of severe systemic mycoses. The second phase saw the successful introduction and clinical use of 5-fluorocytosine and several imidazole derivatives some twenty years later, at a time when the vast increase in iatrogenic systemic mycoses caused by opportunistic fungi had created an urgent and pressing need for new agents in addition to those still effective.

[Transfer factor. Properties and possible therapeutic applications (author's transl)]. / Transferfaktor. Eigenschaften und therapeutische Anwendungsmöglichkeiten

Transfer factor (TF) is a dialysable and ultrafilterable extract from human leukocytes. It contains only substances with a molecular weight of less than 10 000. Several biological activities of TF are so far known. These refer to the transfer of specific cellular immunity from one individual to another and a stimulating effect, probably of an unspecific nature, on the cellular immune system. So far, favorable therapeutic results have been obtained in chronic candidiasis and a few other chronic infectious diseases, in the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and possibly also in some special malignant tumors. The small number of treatments does not permit any firm conclusions to be drawn.