On the identity of the toxins produced by serologically different strains of Bacillus diphtheriæ / by Percival Hartley.

  • Percival Horton-Smith Hartley
Date:
[1923?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: On the identity of the toxins produced by serologically different strains of Bacillus diphtheriæ / by Percival Hartley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Further Experiments. Paxson and Redowitz (1922) repeated Havens’s experiments and confirmed his results in so far as the occurrence of two serologically different groups of diphtheria bacilli are concerned. They were unable to obtain any evidence that the toxins from group 2 were not neutralised by standard antitoxin, and they concluded that antitoxin prepared from toxin obtained from group 1 strains neutralised equally well the toxins belonging to either group. Park, Williams, and Mann (1922) examined five strains received from Durand (1920) who had shown fey agglutination and absorption tests that they belonged to five different groups. Four strains belonging to Havens’s group 2 were also examined. These workers fully corroborated Durand’s results, and found that the four Havens’s strains were not agglutinated by their tvpe 1 serum, and they conclude “ that in all communities there are many types and at least several dominant ones.” They found, how¬ ever, that the common antitoxin protected against living cultures of organisms belonging to five different groups, including three of Havens’s group 2 strains and, further, that toxins prepared from members of all five groups were neutralised by the usual amounts of antitoxin. The question of the identity of the toxin from different strains of the diphtheria bacillus and the efficacy of antitoxin arises from time to time in this country. It was stated in a recent report of the medical officer of health of one of our large cities that larger doses of antitoxin are required to-day to produce the same clinical improvement than were needed seven years ago, and it was suggested that this may be due to an alteration in the type or toxicity of the prevailing bacillus. A. S. G-. Bell (1922), working at the Royal Army Medical College, investigated 130 strains of B. diphtherice, over 90 per cent, of which were isolated from swabs taken in the London area during a recent epidemic. An agglutinating serum prepared from strain Park Williams No. 8 agglutinated 17 (13 per cent.) of the strains. A second serum, made from a strain not agglutinated by the type 1 serum, agglutinated eight strains (6 per cent.), while a third serum, made from a strain which was not agglutinated by either type 1 or type 2 serum, agglutinated 80 strains (61 per cent.). Twenty-five strains (20 per cent.) were not agglutinated by either of the three sera prepared. At Major Bell’s request I undertook the study of the toxins produced by members of these three groups. The main object of the inquiry was to ascertain whether the toxins were neutralised by the antitoxin in common use which is made from the toxin produced by the Park Williams No. 8 strain. Method of Present Test. Fifteen strains, received at different times, were investigated. They were sown on 100 c.cm. quan¬ tities of the medium used in these laboratories for toxin production (1922, Hartley, P., and Hartley, O. M.) and after incubation at 37° C. for three days