THE RELATIONSHIP OF STREPTOCOCCUS FECALIS TO PSORIASIS

[摘要] Expts. and clinical observations reported lend no support to the theory that Streptococcus fecalis is an etiologic factor in psoriasis. The findings of Swartz (1943), tending to support that theory, are not confirmed. Psoriasis does occur in Negroes; bowel function is not appreciably different in psoriasis and in other dermatoses; the S. fecalis count in patients with psoriasis, in white controls, and in Negro controls, shows an apparently smaller fecalis count in the feces of psoriatics; apparent cures and clinical improvement in psoriatics treated with autogenous S. fecalis vaccine were no greater than the percentages of apparent cure or improvement with other treatments, or none; treatment with (a) the autogenous S. fecalis vaccine, and (b) a stock vaccine of pooled streptococci, each caused exacerbations in about 37% of the patients. This does not seem to suggest that there is an allergic component in psoriasis, since no desensitization was noted.