title: Everything to gain: Sir Hugh Cairns' treatment of central nervous system infection at Oxford and abroad.
abstract: Antibiotics have revolutionized survival from central nervous system (CNS) infections. Sixty years after the death of Sir Hugh Cairns, we present archive material of historical interest from the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford from the time of his first trials of penicillin for CNS infection. We discuss Cairns' important wartime and subsequent contributions to antibiosis in CNS infection and include drawings by Audrey Arnott illustrating the surgical techniques used to treat abscesses at the time.
authors.affiliation: Nuffield Department of Surgery, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals Trust, Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Joshua I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Chalif
authors.forename: Martin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gillies
authors.forename: Shailendra A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Magdum
authors.forename: Tipu Z
authors.initials: TZ
authors.lastname: Aziz
authors.forename: Erlick A C
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Pereira
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000266:history / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002494:Central Nervous System Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000266:history*; D004739:England; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D010820:Physicians / Q000266:history*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents