Abstract
With a view to obtaining information as to the virulence of pneumococci for human beings a study was made of the pneumococcidal action of normal human serum-leucocyte mixtures for freshly isolated strains of pathogenic pneumococci. It was found that human beings as a group showed well marked pneumococcus destroying power in their blood for all types of organisms studied. Individuals, however, exhibited wide variations in their reactions against the different types. These ranged from marked killing effect for one type of pneumococcus to none or slight against another. While reactions against different strains within the type often varied considerably this difference was less, on the whole, than that between types. An interpretation of these findings in the light of previous animal experiments in which actual determination of resistance to pneumococcus infection was made leads to the inference that human beings in general possess a considerable degree of natural immunity to all types of pneumococci but that individuals may be relatively susceptible to one or more types and at the same time resistant to others; also that pathogenic strains of pneumococci vary much in their virulence for man.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (516.8 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Cooper G., Edwards M., Rosenstein C. THE SEPARATION OF TYPES AMONG THE PNEUMOCOCCI HITHERTO CALLED GROUP IV AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THERAPEUTIC ANTISERUMS FOR THESE TYPES. J Exp Med. 1929 Feb 28;49(3):461–474. doi: 10.1084/jem.49.3.461. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Robertson O. H., Sia R. H. STUDIES ON PNEUMOCOCCUS GROWTH INHIBITION : II. A METHOD FOR DEMONSTRATING THE GROWTH-INHIBITORY AND BACTERICIDAL ACTION OF NORMAL SERUM-LEUCOCYTE MIXTURES. J Exp Med. 1924 Jan 31;39(2):219–244. doi: 10.1084/jem.39.2.219. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Robertson O. H., Sia R. H. STUDIES ON PNEUMOCOCCUS GROWTH INHIBITION : VII. THE RELATION OF OPSONINS TO NATURAL RESISTANCE AGAINST PNEUMOCOCCUS INFECTION. J Exp Med. 1927 Jul 31;46(2):239–262. doi: 10.1084/jem.46.2.239. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Robertson O. H., Woo S. T., Cheer S. N. STUDIES ON PNEUMOCOCCUS GROWTH INHIBITION : IV. A SIMPLIFIED AGITATOR FOR GROWTH INHIBITION TESTS WITH SERUM-LEUCOCYTE MIXTURES; AND CERTAIN MODIFICATIONS IN THE TECHNIQUE OF THE TEST. J Exp Med. 1924 Sep 30;40(4):487–491. doi: 10.1084/jem.40.4.487. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ward H. K. OBSERVATIONS ON THE PHAGOCYTOSIS OF THE PNEUMOCOCCUS BY HUMAN WHOLE BLOOD : I. THE NORMAL PHAGOCYTIC TITRE, AND THE ANTI-PHAGOCYTIC EFFECT OF THE SPECIFIC SOLUBLE SUBSTANCE. J Exp Med. 1930 Apr 30;51(5):675–684. doi: 10.1084/jem.51.5.675. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Woo S. T. STUDIES ON PNEUMOCOCCUS GROWTH INHIBITION : V. THE RELATION OF VIRULENCE TO THE PNEUMOCOCCIDAL ACTIVITY OF NORMAL RABBIT SERUM-LEUCOCYTE MIXTURES. J Exp Med. 1926 Apr 30;43(5):623–631. doi: 10.1084/jem.43.5.623. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]