Rheumatoid arthritis improved by treatment with levamisole and L-histidine.

A case of classical rheumatoid arthritis of 12 years' duration, was treated during an exacerbation with levamisole and remission was induced. The findings support the postulate that depressed cell-mediated immunity to an unknown antigen is the primary immunity defect in rheumatoid arthritis, and that the defence mechanism stimulant levamisole is an effective treatment, at least in some cases. The lack of toxicity of the drug is noted, but in this case the blood aspirin level rose while the patient was taking levamisole with an unaltered dose of aspirin. There was some depression of the neutrophil count after five months which responded to a reduced dosage.