Immunity in Scarlet Fever

[摘要] 1. 1. Antitoxic titers were determined in 30 Dick-positive nurses prior to immunization: 19 had less than one unit, ten—from one to two, and one nurse had 7.5 units per 1 ml of serum.2. 2. The nurses reacting positively received a series of toxin-injections with doses selected on the basis of local and systemic reactions caused by the preceding injections. Although all became Dick-negative, only one–third of them responded with a progressive rise of antitoxic titer, while in the remainder the antitoxin-rise was found only in the early stage of immunization or not at all.3. 3. Antitoxin-formation following injections with toxin occurred more readily in persons who had, previous to these injections, at least about one unit of circulating antitoxin per 1 ml of serum.4. 4. Persons not responding to toxin-injections by antitoxin-formation, remained refractory in spite of very large additional doses.5. 5. In a group of 43 nurses a wide variation was observed in the amount of toxin required for their immunization.6. 6. Antitoxin-formation was usually scant in persons who responded with severe local and systemic reactions.7. 7. None of the 43 persons, who became Dick-negative after immunization, contracted scarlet fever during exposure in the wards. Likewise—none of the yearly 400 student-nurses became ill with scarlet fever during the first 3 years of obligatory immunization of the Dick-positive subjects.8. 8. Of the 4 members of the medical and nursing staff who subsequently became ill with scarlet fever, 3 were positive to 2 S.T.D., while negative to 1 S.T.D. The fourth entered the ward service before the Dick test was performed and on the first day of illness was found to be positive.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）