Yes, i remember them well........carbuncles.....hot poultices, as hot as you could bear them. many were streptococcal infections and after bursting, the active organism was still on the shirt or underpants to reinfect again. Penicillin was available, but the organisms soon became resistant to them. Streptomycin was available but that was used only for tuberculosis.
Then in the late 50's and 60's we had wide spectrum antibiotics and this marked the death of the recurrent boils and carbuncles.