DELAYED HYPERSENSITIVITY IN EXPERIMENTAL FUNGUS INFECTIONS - THE SKIN REACTIVITY OF ANTIGENS FROM THE YEAST PHASE OF BLASTOMYCES-DERMATITIDIS

[摘要] Antigenic fractions were isolated from yeast phase cultures of Blastomyces dermatitidis and assayed for skin test reactivity in infected rabbits and guinea pigs. Somatic antigens extracted from yeast cells did not possess the desired criteria of simultaneous high sensitivity and specificity; however, a fraction precipitated from yeast phase cultural supernate with 67% ethanol was superior to blastomycin. This fraction has produced a delayed skin reaction in B. dermati-tidis-infected rabbits in amounts as low as 0.01 [mu]g and fails to react in rabbits infected with Histoplasma capsulatum Coccidiodes immitis, Candida albicans, Sporotrichum schenckii and Cryptococcus neoformans. A procedure designed to remove protein destroys the skin test reactivity of this antigen.