Rosalie J. Silverberg

An agglutinative reaction for hemophilus pertussis: II. Its relation to clinical immunity

Summary The relationship between clinical immunity and the agglutinin titerin children given H. pertussis vaccines was studied over a period of four years. Periodic tests in a group of 554 children were made. Seventy-nine indoor exposures, twenty-four of which were familial, occurred. Ten cases of pertussis (six from familial exposures) resulted. Among the sixty-nine individuals who escaped, the last agglutinative titer prior to exposure varied from 0 to 1:2560. Forty-six had titers of 1:320 or higher. Among the ten individuals who were attacked with pertussis, the pre-exposure titers varied from 0 to 1:160. These observations suggest that whereas immunity may exist in the absence of demonstrable agglutinins, susceptibility does not occur in the presence of agglutinins in high titer. The clinical application of these findings is discussed.

An agglutinative reaction for hemophilus pertussis

Summary Agglutinative reactions with H. pertussis were performed on the sera of 554 children who had received phase I H. pertussis vaccine. Two hundred and fifteen of these children were in the age groups of 6 to 36 months at the time vaccine was given. A total dose of 80 billion H. pertussis was given within a period of one month. Agglutinins were demonstrated in the sera of all but 5 of the 215 children. The titers attained in from two to four months after vaccination remained relatively constant thereafter. With few exceptions, no tendency for decline from a “plateau” of antibody concentration was observed up to six years after vaccination. Agglutinative tests done on other groups of vaccinated children indicatedthat: 1. Prolonging the interval between the injections of vaccine had noappreciable effect on the height or persistence of agglutinins. 2. Decreasing the total dose of vaccine to 50 billion cells or lower resulted in much less constant antibody production. 3. Children over 36 months of age at the time of receiving 80 billionH. pertussis tended to develop slightly lower “plateaus” of agglutinins than did younger children. 4. Increasing the initial dose of vaccine in these older children did notlead to higher titers. 5. Revaccination one year or more after the initial vaccination led to increases in agglutinin titer which were thereafter maintained at high levels for at least three years.

Excretion of Poliomyelitis Virus.

Summary Poliomyelitis virus when applied to the central end of a divided branch of the trigeminal nerve in the cheek travels centripetally to the corresponding semilunar ganglion within three days. Centrifugal spredd to the nasopharyngeal surfaces, which are supplied by the trigeminal nerve, was demonstrated by detection of virus in the nasopharyngeal washings on the third and fourth days. Virus was also found in the stools on the fourth but not on the third day, suggesting that it had been swallowed. It is suspected that excretion, like invasion, of poliomyelitis virus occurs through axonal channels.

SEDIMENTATION OF POLIOMYELITIS VIRUS BY CENTRIFUGATION

A technic is described whereby poliomyelitis virus may be sedimented by centrifugation for four hours at 18,000 r.p.m. Virus has been recovered quantitatively in the sediment from a 20 per cent., but not a 1 per cent., saline suspension. The addition of 10 per cent. normal serum results in quantitative recovery from a 1 per cent. suspension. Virus has been recovered by intracerebral inoculation from two of four human stools tested by the method described.