The Journal of Experimental Medicine
StemCell Technologies
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JEM
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Abernethy, T. J.
Right arrow Articles by Francis, T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Abernethy, T. J.
Right arrow Articles by Francis, T., Jr.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol 65, 59-73, Copyright, 1937, by The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research New York

ARTICLE

STUDIES ON THE SOMATIC C POLYSACCHARIDE OF PNEUMOCOCCUS : I. CUTANEOUS AND SEROLOGICAL REACTIONS IN PNEUMONIA



Theodore J. Abernethy M.D.1 and Thomas Francis Jr. M.D.1

1 From the Hospital of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research

A study of 46 cases of pneumococcus pneumonia has shown that a characteristic response may be elicited by the intracutaneous injection of 0.1 mg. of the somatic C polysaccharide of pneumococcus. During the acute febrile period in patients who recover, the response consists of a delayed erythema which reaches its maximum intensity in 18 to 24 hours. During convalescence the reaction is not demonstrable. In patients in whom the disease is prolonged by complications the capacity of the skin to react persists. In 7 fatal cases the skin failed to react to C polysaccharide.

Parallel studies of the reaction of the patients' serum with C have confirmed and extended the observations of Tillett and Francis on the appearance of the precipitation phenomenon during the acute stages and its disappearance in recovery.

That the cutaneous and serological reactions are not specific for pneumococcus infection is shown by the results in 29 control cases. 8 patients with infectious febrile diseases not of pneumococcus origin gave responses similar to those noted in pneumonia. 2 patients with non-infectious fevers and 18 of 19 normal individuals failed to give either skin or serum reactions.

These observations emphasize the importance of using separate components of the bacterial cell in the interpretation of cutaneous and serological reactions in pneumonia. The parallelism in results of the skin and serum tests in pneumococcus pneumonia with the somatic carbohydrate C, the significance of the reactions in relation to the clinical course and outcome of the disease, and the frequency of occurrence of both reactions in bacterial infections other than those of pneumococcal origin, are discussed.

 Submitted on July 29, 1936


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:



  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search
TABLE OF CONTENTS