Schick Reactions and Serum Antitoxin Titrations on Children Injected with Diphtheria Formol Toxoid

[摘要] The customary method of determining the effectiveness of diphtheria immunization by various antigens is the well known Schick skin test. This has been considered an indirect means of estimating a certain amount of antitoxin in the blood of individuals before and after injection with the antigen employed. Schick and Michaels (1913) stated that a negative Schick test should indicate an amount of antitoxin present in the blood serum of the subject under investigation not below 0.03 of a unit per cubic centimeter of serum (0.02 units per cubic centimeter of blood). This lower level of protection was later placed at 0.005 unit per cubic centimeter of serum (Schick, von Gröer, and Kassowitz, 1924) and in recent years 0.01 unit per cubic centimeter of serum has been considered sufficient to protect against diphtheria (Dudley, Surg. Capt. S. F., 1934). The so-called “Schick level” is now placed between 0.03 and 0.01 units.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）